As Indian Railway completes 170 years on Sunday, a new study by Central Railway Mumbai, from where it all started with the first Mumbai-Thane train in 1853, has revealed that at least three local trains running today follow the same timetable as that of the old Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR), Asia’s pioneering railway company, which eventually became Central Railway.

The first train in Asia (and India) ran between Bombay to Thana on Saturday, April 16, 1853, at 3:35pm. Today time-tabled 97379, the train still runs— more or less at the same time at 3:28pm, keeping alive the memory and legacy of the day when railways first arrived in India. The Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) became Central Railway and steam trains now run on electric power, but the journey continues trundling along the same stations, on the same blueprint.

“Two other local trains that still follow the GIP Railway timetable are the 1:40pm Karjat local and the 5pm Ambernath local. And there is a unique thing about both the trains. Old timers in the operations department tell us that the 1:40pm Karjat local has been running since the steam days when they used to attach steam engines on either ends of the trains. The local train, now electric, still runs on the same time,” Central Railway chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar said.

“The 5pm CSMT-Ambernath local has also been running since the GIPR days. The train acts as a sort of a pilot train to the iconic Mumbai-Pune Deccan Queen Express train. This means that it runs about ten minutes ahead of the Deccan Queen clearing the path. The 5pm Ambernath semi-fast local is now an AC local, halting at limited stations till Thane,” he added.

Indian Railways completes 170th year of service to the nation on 16th April 2023.