The first passenger train in India ran in 1853. On 16 April, a Great Indian Peninsula Railway train travelled from Bombay’s Bori Bunder station to Thane, covering about 34 kilometres.
The 14-carriage train carried roughly 400 passengers and was hauled by three steam locomotives named Sahib, Sindh and Sultan. The journey took approximately 57 minutes and was celebrated with a 21-gun salute. This service is generally treated as the beginning of India’s modern railway era.
A common mix-up is the year 1854. That was when eastern India’s first passenger service began, running from Howrah to Hooghly. Southern India’s first passenger train followed in 1856, between Royapuram and Wallajah Road. Earlier railways in India also existed for transporting stone and construction materials, but they were not passenger services. Thus, 1853 is the standard answer for India’s first passenger train.