Deccan Queen

History

Deccan Queen was started on 1 June 1930 as a weekend train for the British people in India during the days of British India, to ferry race-fans from Bombay (now Mumbai) to Poona (now Pune). The first service of the train was conducted from Calyan (now Kalyan) and Pune. It was converted to a daily service soon after, starting from Bombay Victoria Terminus (renamed Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus CSMTM). It is one of the longest running trains on the Indian Railways to have never run on steam power. From the beginning, the Deccan Queen has been run using electric locomotives. Occasionally, it was given diesel locomotives in case of original locomotive failure.

The color of its rake has seen a lot of changes, from red colour to yellow to white and then to blue.

The Deccan Queen has several firsts or 'among the firsts' to her credit: she was India's first superfast train, she was the first long distance electric hauled passenger train, she was one of India's first vestibuled trains. The Deccan Queen was the first to have a Ladies Only car, and amongst the first to feature a diner. The train has an exciting and chequered history. The Deccan Queen got a brand new rake in 1966, consisting of Indian Railways standard integral anti telescopic cars. For the first time since the history of the train, third class (now second class) passengers were allowed to travel by this train. It had only reserved first class since inception until 1966.

Deccan Queen is the second train in India having ISO 9000 certification and a dining car after the India's first ISO Certified train Shaan - E - Bhopal Express running between Bhopal Habibganj (Bhopal) - Hazrat Nizamuddin (Delhi). It has sixteen coaches including the engine.

The Deccan Queen is also one of the most favourite trains among railfans. Every year on 1 June, its regular pass-holders, railfans and railway authorities celebrate the train's birthday. Deccan Queen entered its 87th year of service on 1 June 2016.

Schedule

The train number is 12124 while travelling from Pune to Mumbai, a distance of 192 kilometres (119 mi), and 12123 for the return journey from Mumbai to Pune. Deccan Queen is Central Railway's flagship train but is often late by 30 minutes when arriving in Mumbai due to suburban network local trains. Deccan Queen, when it started in 1930 was one of the fastest trains in Asia. It used to cover the 192 km Mumbai-Pune distance in 2 hours 45 minutes but now takes 3 hours 15 minutes.

Rakes

During the journey from Mumbai, the train's first halt is at Karjat to attach banker locomotives at the rear to enable the train to climb the mountainous route. The train then halts at Lonavala after climbing to the top, and then halts at Shivajinagar station near Pune before finally terminating at the main Pune railway station.

Traction

When it was introduced in 1929, the Deccan Queen was hauled by WCP 1/2 DC passenger locomotives. From 1954 till the 1990s, it was hauled by a WCM 1/2/4/5 DC mixed locomotive. From the 1990s till present, it is currently hauled end to end by a WCAM 3 or WCAM 2/2P DC/AC locomotive of the Kalyan (KYN) shed. In the near future, the Deccan Queen will also be hauled by pure AC locomotives like WAP-4, WAP-5 or WAP-7 when the Kalyan Electric Loco Shed receives them.

At Karjat, it gets two or three WAG-5, WAG-7, WCAM-2 or WCAM 3 bankers of Kalyan shed to push the train on the ghat section between Karjat railway station and Lonavala railway station, where the gradient is of 1 in 40.

Incidents

The train derailed in 1990 at Khandala Ghat, but there were no casualties.

The train service was disturbed in July to August 2005 due to heavy rainfall in Mumbai (26 July 2005)

On 30 November 2006, a mob of around 6000 protestors set fire to some coaches of the train near Ulhasnagar after forcing the passengers to get down. The arsonists were protesting against the vandalism of a statue of B. R. Ambedkar in far away Kanpur though the incident had nothing to do with the Deccan Queen.

Sister trains (Mumbai - Pune)