The 12903 / 12904 Golden Temple SF Mail is a Daily Superfast Mail train operated by the

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

that runs daily between (MMCT) in

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

and (ASR) in

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

. It is the fastest train from Mumbai to Amritsar on daily basis. It is named after the

Golden Temple The Golden Temple is a gurdwara located in Amritsar, Punjab, India. It is the pre-eminent spiritual site of Sikhism. It is one of the Holy place, holiest sites in Sikhism, alongside the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Kartarpur, Pakistan, ...

Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...

. The train has been operating with modern

LHB coach Linke-Hofmann-Busch (LHB) coach is a passenger coach of Indian Railways that is developed by Linke-Hofmann-Busch of Germany and produced by rail coach manufacturing units at Kapurthala, Chennai and Raebareli. They have been used since 2000 on ...

es since 29 September 2020. Before the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

, it would ferry passengers arriving by Steamer from Europe directly from the Ballard Pier in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

to the city of

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

on India's North-West Frontier. The train ran as the Frontier Mail between 1928 and 1996. It operates as train number 12903 from Mumbai Central to Amritsar Junction and as train number 12904 in the reverse direction.

History

The train made its inaugural run from Colaba Terminus station on 1st September 1928, as the Frontier Mail. She carried this name until September 1996. Prior to the Partition of India, it would run up to Peshawar on India's frontier with Afghanistan from which it derived its name. The then agent (now known as General Manager) of BB&CI Railway, Sir Ernest Jackson, believed that this train would compete well with the rival GIP Railway's Punjab Limited. Indeed, the Frontier Mail with its shorter route, reduced travel time to just seventy-two hours. During the autumn months between September and December, the train would depart from the station, on the Bombay Port Trust line. This was for the convenience of the British who arrived in India by steamer. Upon its arrival in Bombay, The BB&CIR Headquarter building outside the Churchgate station would be floodlit to announce a safe arrival. The train was popular for its punctuality. It was believed that one's Rolex could let them down, but the Frontier Mail couldn't. Infact, when in August 1929, the train arrived 15 minutes, the driver was asked to reason out the cause for the delay. The Frontier Mail also finds a place in romanticised biographies of film actor

Prithviraj Kapoor Prithviraj Kapoor (born Prithvinath Kapoor; 3 November 1906 – 29 May 1972) was an Indian actor who is also considered to be one of the founding figures of Hindi cinema. He was associated with IPTA as one of its founding members and establish ...

who is believed to have travelled to Bombay from his hometown of Peshawar by the Frontier Mail in 1928 to act in films. Hunterwali, probably India's first action heroine, acted in the film '' Miss Frontier Mail''. The Frontier Mail was the first

air conditioned Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C (US) or air con (UK), is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior temperature, and in some cases, also controlling the humidity of internal air. Air c ...

train in the

Indian Peninsula The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. It received an air-conditioned compartment in 1934. Radio facility was provided for the first time on the Golden Temple Mail.

Coaches

The 12903/04 Golden Temple Mail has one AC First Tier, three AC 2 tier, six AC 3 tier, six Sleeper class, two General unreserved coaches, one General cum baggage coaches. It also has one Railway Mail service coach, one

Pantry A pantry is a room or cupboard where beverages, food, (sometimes) dishes, household cleaning products, linens or provisions are stored within a home or office. Food and beverage pantries serve in an ancillary capacity to the kitchen. Etymol ...

car & one High Capacity Parcel Van.

Service

The Golden Temple Mail runs between Mumbai Central and Amritsar Junction. It is a daily service covering the distance of 1891 km in 32 hours 15 minutes as 12903 Golden Temple Mail averaging 58.64 km/h and 31 hours 55 minutes as 12904 Golden Temple Mail averaging 59.25 km/h.

1955 Crash

The train operating the service collided with another train in 1955, killing one and injuring 34.https://eparlib.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/55981/1/lsd_01_09_22-03-1955.pdf Page no. 50

Traction

It is now regularly hauled by a Vadodara Loco Shed based

WAP-7 The Indian locomotive class WAP-7 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1999 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), AC Current (A), Passenger traffic ...

locomotive from end to end.

Route & halts

The train runs from Mumbai Central via , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,, , , , , to Amritsar Junction

Gallery

File:Ballard-Pier-Mole.jpg, The Frontier Mail departing Ballard Pier Mole Station (c. 1930s) File:Vadodra based WAP-7 leading Golden Temple Mail.jpg, Vadodra based WAP-7 locomotive for Golden Temple Mail. File:LHB coaches of Golden Temple Mail.jpg, Sleeper Non-AC LHB coaches of Golden Temple Mail. File:LHB AC 3 tier coach of Golden Temple Mail.jpg, AC 3 tier LHB coach of Golden Temple Mail. File:LHB AC 2 tier coach of Golden Temple Mail.jpg, AC 2 tier LHB coach of Golden Temple Mail. File:12903 Frontier Mail.jpg, 12903 Golden Temple Mail Blue ICF coach HA1 File:12903 Golden Temple Mail.jpg, 12903 Golden Temple Mail Blue ICF coaches File:Golden Temple Mail - AC 3 tier coach.jpg, Golden Temple Mail – Blue ICF AC 3 tier coach File:The Mail coach of Golden Temple Mail.jpg, Red ICF Mail coach of Golden Temple Mail

References

External links

The History of this train at IRFCA

A PDF document on the history of Frontier Mail

* ttps://expresstrainroute.com/trains/12904-golden-temple-mail Golden Temple MailTrain Arrival, Departure times, and other general
Information on the 1955 accident of Frontier mail (pg.50)
Golden" target="_blank" class="mw-redirect" title="Temple Mail Route Map
* [https://archive.today/20130415020433/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Golden Temple Mail Transport in Mumbai">Temple Mail Route Map

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Transport in Amritsar
Railway services introduced in 1928 Rail transport in Punjab, India Rail transport in Madhya Pradesh Rail transport in Haryana Rail transport in Rajasthan Rail transport in Delhi Rail transport in Maharashtra Rail transport in Gujarat Rail transport in Uttar Pradesh Mail trains in India