Oldest train of India has been running for 159 years, its name is…, it runs from…

Oldest train of India: The story of Indian Railways began in the year 1853 when a train, administrated by the British East India Company ran from Boree Bunder (Mumbai) to Thane. Since its inception, the  Indian Railways has grown by leaps and bounds and has produced world-class trains for the citizens of India. As of today, trains like the Vande Bharat Express and Tejas Express have gathered headlines from all across the world. However, very little is known about the legacy of old trains of India with which the actual journey began. Would you believe if we tell you that the oldest train of India is still serving the Indian Railways.

About historic Netaji Express

Netaji Express (formerly known as Kalka Mail) is regarded as the oldest running train in India. The historic train connects Howrah in Kolkata to Kalka in Haryana. Earlier, the train use to cover Kolkata to New Delhi but its route was later extended to Kalka, Haryana. For a background, Kalka is the railhead for the Kalka-Shimla Railway which runs till Shimla, the once summer capital of the British Raj.

First run of Howrah-Kalka Mail

The Howrah-Kalka Mail first ran on January 1, 1866 and it has completed 159 years of service to the Indian Railways. As mentioned earlier, the oldest train used to run between Delhi and Kolkata and it was then called the East India Railway Mail. Later, the name of the train was changed to Howrah-Kalka mail and recently, the train was renamed as Netaji Express in 2021 on the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose due to a historic reason.

Historic connection with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose

It is widely believed that Indian freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose boarded this train from Gomoh, near Dhanbad in today’s Jharkhand to evade the British in 1941. On a tragic note, the train was involved in a derailment at Malwan station in Fatehpur district that killed 70 and injured 300 in 2011.

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