Golden Temple Mail

The 12903 / 12904 Golden Temple Mail is a mail train belonging to Indian Railways that runs daily between Mumbai Central (MMCT) in Maharashtra and Amritsar Junction (ASR) in Punjab. It is named after the famous Golden Temple at Amritsar. The train is operated with modern LHB coaches from 29 September 2020. The train ran as the Frontier Mail between 1928 and 1996, ferrying passengers arriving by Steamer from Europe directly from Ballard Pier in Bombay to the city of Peshawar on India's North-West Frontier before the Partition of India.

It operates as train number 12903 from Mumbai Central to Amritsar Junction and as train number 12904 in the reverse direction.

History
The Golden Temple Mail was until September 1996 known as Frontier Mail. Prior the Partition of India, it would run up to Peshawar on India's frontier with Afghanistan from which it derived its name. During the autumn months between September and December, the train used to depart from the Ballard Pier Mole station. This was for the convenience of the British who arrived in India by steamer. The Frontier Mail also finds a place in romanticised biographies of film actor Prithviraj Kapoor 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, has acted in the film Miss Frontier Mail. The Frontier Mail was the first air conditioned train in the Indian Peninsula, when it got an air-conditioned compartment in 1934. The radio facility was provided for the first time in the Golden Temple Mail.

Coaches
The 12903/04 Golden Temple Mail has one AC First cum AC 2 Tier, two AC 2 tier, five AC 3 tier, eight Sleeper class, two General unreserved coaches, two General cum baggage coaches. It also has one Railway Mail service coach, one Pantry 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
A train operating the service collided with another train in 1955, killing one and injuring 34.

Traction
It is now regularly hauled by a Vadodara Loco Shed based WAP-7 locomotive from end to end.

Route & halts
The train runs from Mumbai Central via Borivali, Surat, Vadodara Junction, Ratlam Junction, Nagda Junction, Kota Junction, Sawai Madhopur Junction, Gangapur City, Bharatpur Junction, Mathura Junction, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Ghaziabad Junction, Meerut City, Saharanpur Junction, Ambala Cantonment Junction, Ludhiana Junction, Phagwara, Jalandhar City Junction, Beas Junction to Amritsar Junction