When it started to run daily, Punjab Limited became the Punjab Mail and for a very long time, was the fastest train in India. In the initial years, it was an extremely prestigious train and first class restriction gave it exclusivity. The Punjab Mail was adulterated with third class carriages in 1930s, second class and servants having been permitted earlier. Later, it was overshadowed by the Frontier Mail. There used to be a Mumbai-Peshawar Mail and BBCI (Bombay Baroda and Central India Railway) replaced it with the Frontier Mail in 1928. During winter months, from September to December, the Frontier Mail connected with P&O steamships and, therefore, started from Ballard Pier (Mole Station). Consequently, BBCI used Bombay Port Railway tracks and also those of GIPR, before it moved on to BBCI tracks. In non-winter months, the train ended at Colaba. GIPR and BBCI competed over several things, such as which company would cross the Western Ghats first. They also competed over the Mumbai-Peshawar route and once it was started, the Frontier Mail overtook the Punjab Mail. It was faster and more elitist. The Frontier Mail was known for its punctuality. It was said that a Rolex watch might let you down, but not the Frontier Mail. In August 1929, there was an instance when the train was 15 minutes late and this created an uproar, the driver being asked to explain the reason for this "inexcusable" delay.
The following interesting story seems to have been first pieced together by Rosie Thomas. In 1936, Wadia Movietone decided to produce an action crime thriller directed by Homi Wadia. This starred Fearless Nadia (Mary Ann Evans) and the setting for the murder mystery was a railway station. Unfortunately, the film was titled Frontier Mail. BBCI objected, since the film showed a crashing train, that too, after the film company had been allowed to film on BBCI trains and tracks. About a month before the film's release in May 1936, angry BBCI officials contacted J B H Wadia and objected. There were graphic posters of the film, with the image of a train crashing and the blurb, "By kind permission of the B.B. & C.I. Railway Company". Wadia agreed to change the name and did what would today be called crowd-sourcing. Through newspaper campaigns, he asked people to write in, suggesting names. The name, thus, agreed to was Miss Frontier Mail and the publicity booklet stated, "We hereby inform the public that our Rail-Road Thriller, Miss Frontier Mail, has no connections whatsoever with the well-known "Frontier Mail" of the B.B. & C.I. Railway. It refers to the name of the heroine of the story and not to any train whatsoever in India." The iconic Frontier Mail now has the rather pedestrian sounding name of Golden Temple Mail.
The film must have been a success. In 1939, Wadia Movietone produced a film titled Punjab Mail, again starring Fearless Nadia, GIPR doesn't seem to have objected. (There were no crashing trains in this.) Wadia Movietone also produced Toofan Mail in 1932 and Toofan Express in 1938, the former being a silent film. Once upon a time, Toofan Express used to be a great train between Delhi and Howrah (later extended to Sri Ganganagar), 7 UP and 8 DN. It is now called Udyan Abha Toofan Express, 13007/13008. Several people, even within IR (Indian Railways), will tell you about a train called Toofan Mail. You may be surprised to know there never was a train called Toofan Mail. Officially, it was always Toofan Express. There have been too many films titled Jawab. Do you remember Kanan Devi's song from the 1942 one? "Toofan mail, Duniya yeh duniya toofan mail." There was also a 1942 film called Return of Toofan Mail. It was the influence of Bollywood that reduced Toofan Express to Toofan Mail.
The writer is a member of the NITI Aayog. The views are personal