Deccan Queen
The Deccan Queen is a daily Indian passenger train service operated by the Central Railway zone of the Indian Railways connecting the cities of Mumbai and Pune. Introduced on June 1, 1930, the Deccan Queen was India's "first superfast train, first long-distance electric-hauled train, first vestibuled train, the first train to have a ‘women-only’ car, and the first train to feature a dining car". The service name comes from the Hindi nickname "" (Queen of the Deccan), a popular nickname for Pune. Deccan Queen is currently the fastest train service linking Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus  and Pune Junction. It has an average operating speed of including stops, and a top speed of , making it among the fastest trains in India. The train's long history and common use as a commuter train has gained it significant popularity, including annual celebrations of its "birthday" on June 1 at Pune Junction. It is hauled by a Kalyan-based WCAM-3 end to end. History. "Deccan Queen" service was introduced on 1 June 1930 as a weekend train with two rakes of seven coaches each. The first service of the train was conducted from Calyan (now Kalyan) and Pune  in the Bombay Presidency, British India, apparently in order to ferry rich patrons from Bombay (now Mumbai) to Poona (now Pune) to attend horse racing at Pune Race Course. Initially, one coach was painted in silver with scarlet mouldings, while the others were painted in royal blue with gold lines. The underframes of the coaches of the original rakes were built in England, while the coach bodies were built in the Matunga Workshop of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. The service initially included first and second class seating, but the first class was replaced by a redesigned second class on  January 1, 1949, until third class seating was introduced in June 1955. In 1966, the coaches were replaced by "anti-telescopic, steel-bodied integral coaches" built by Integral Coach Factory, PeramburChennai, and the rake was lengthened to twelve coaches. Third class seating was re-designated second-class seating in April 1974. 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 90th year of service on 1 June 2019. On 19 August 2020, Central Railways  announced an allocation of brand new LHB coaches coupled with a simultaneous introduction of a unique culturally significant "Green-Brown-Yellow" curvilinear stripe livery on all of the coaches of Deccan Queen. The unique new livery has been finalized after numerous consultations with commuters as well as Design Engineers. The new livery features a dark green-colored main background, with brown and yellow curvilinear stripes, that run from the right end of the coach and end at 2/3rds of the length of the coach thereby giving the rake a unique GenZ look that is bound to make heads turn in  conjunction with eyebrows raised. In addition, a selection of such a dark Green livery would ensure that the train's color does not get adversely impacted at the time of the Indian Monsoon. This train will now run with an introduction of push–pull Technology and head-on generation-equipped WAP-7 three-phase electric locomotives of Kalyan Electric Loco Shed, which will also have the same livery as the rest of the train. The unique Dine-in pantry car of this legendary train will still be retained although in a fresh new LHB avatar. Incidents. On 29 December 1953, Bombay -bound Deccan Queen collided at Masjid Bunder station with another local train at 1025 hours on 29 December 1953. Five persons received grievous injuries and 42 others minor ones. The approximate cost of damage to railway property was Rs. 12,600. The Government Inspector of Railways, Bombay, held his statutory enquiry into this accident. His Provisional Finding is that the accident was caused by the failure on the part of the Driver of the Deccan Queen. The train derailed in 1990 at Khandala Ghat, casualties were not reported. The train service was disturbed between late July to early August 2005 due  to heavy rainfall in Mumbai (26 July 2005). On 30 November 2006, a mob of around 6,000 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". Schedule. This service consists of two routes: Due to the suburban network, Deccan Queen's arrival in Mumbai is affected by up to 30 minutes. However, it is still the fastest train between Pune and Mumbai  CSMT. Train. Rake. This train uses old ICF coaches made at the Integral Coach Factory, PeramburChennai. This train has a dining car and is ISO certified . This train has 17 coaches which include different classes like AC chair car, MST coaches (Monthly Season Ticket), Ladies special, Second class sitter, Reserved coaches and General Coaches. This train will be upgraded under Project Utkrisht and will have LED lights, Bio toilets and Braille Signage. GPS-tagged biometric attendance system will be also installed in this train. Initially this train use to run with two different rakes: one colored silver with scarlet moldings  and other royal blue, both built in England. Only First Class and Second Class were used in seven-coach rake till June 1955 after which Third Class was also introduced. Initially there were seven coaches which were increased to 12 and then to 17 as of today. Now it has one dedicated rake colored white and blue with red strip on white color. The rake is ICF rake and was hauled by WCAM-3 or WCAM-2/2P and occasionally WAP-7 (P7) which hauls the train today. The rake is attached with bankers from to while traveling from Mumbai CSMT to Pune Junction  in order to cross steep climbs of the Bhor Ghat. Mumbai CSMT–Pune Junction Locomotives. When it was introduced in 1930, 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 has been hauled end to end by a WCAM-3 or WCAM-2/2P DC/AC locomotive of the Kalyan shed. Starting 1 June 2018, on its 88th anniversary, it will be occasionally hauled by the WAP-7 of the Ajni shed. At , 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.