Deccan Queen completes 93 years

The introduction of ‘’Deccan Queen’’ between the two premier cities of Maharashtra on 1 June 1930 was a major landmark in the history of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, the forerunner of the Central Railway.

This was the first deluxe train introduced on the railway to serve 2 important cities of the region and was aptly named after Pune, also known as ‘’Queen of Deccan’’ (Dakkhan ki Rani).

Initially, the train was introduced with 2 rakes of 7 coaches, each painted in silver with scarlet mouldings and the other with royal blue with gold lines. The under frames of the coaches of the original rakes were built in England while the coach bodies were built in the Matunga Workshop of the GIP Railway.

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The Deccan Queen, initially, had only first-class and second-class accommodations. The first class was abolished on 1st January 1949 and second class was redesigned as first class, which continued up to June 1955 when the third class was introduced on this train for the first time.

This was later re-designated as second class from April 1974 onwards. The coaches of the original rakes were replaced in 1966 by anti-telescopic steel-bodied integral coaches built by Integral Coach Factory, Perambur. These coaches incorporated improved design of bogies for better riding comfort and also improvements in the interior furnishings and fittings. The number of coaches in the rake was also increased to 12 from the original 7 coaches providing additional accommodation. Over the year the number of coaches in the train has been increased to the present level of 16 coaches.

The history of the Deccan Queen (Dakkhan ki Rani) is literally a tale of two cities. The public of both cities is happy with the impeccable record of “right time start” and “arrival” of Deccan Queen. Over the last 92 years of its colourful history, the train has grown from a mere medium of transportation between two cities into an institution-binding generation of intensely loyal passengers.