Train Journey: Mumbai to Pune Route

Mumbai to Pune train route is one of the most important rail networks in the state of Maharashtra. However, did you know this network was created with immense pain and sacrifice? Nobody told the GIPR engineers it would be easy. The Sahyadri range blocked the route between Bombay’s port and the Deccan Plateau, and punching a railway through it meant 25,000 workers dead, 54 million cubic feet of rock blasted out, and the better part of a decade spent on a mountain that kept killing people. 

What came out the other side was the Mumbai to Pune rail corridor: 192 kilometres that today carry daily commuters, IT professionals, factory workers, and students through the same crossing those workers died building. This blog covers the journey: the stations, the trains, the climb through the ghats, and what to eat on the way.

Why the Mumbai to Pune Train Route Still Packs Every Coach

Mumbai has the headquarters, the banks, and the port. Pune has the IT campuses, the car plants, and the universities. These two cities need each other’s workforce in a way that has only deepened over the past thirty years, and the railway is how most of that movement actually happens. Ever since the launch in 1863, trains have continuously moved on this route. Most of the trains on this route run fully packed. If you are travelling on this route, it is better to check train schedule service first which will give you details about the journey of every train.

The trains on this route aren’t just a method of transport, it is a social get together of the passengers. You can find passengers taking the train daily and have also formed a group of their own. Someday you might find a passenger throwing his retirement party and that also inside a moving train. For most of the passengers, the train is a part of their life and it is something that they won’t trade even if faster options are available.

Road is the alternative and it has real limitations. Few things beat Friday nights stuck on the highway as cars bunch up even when nothing’s happened, sudden rains might send mud sliding across lanes, plus those little toll fees add up fast. Trains stick to their schedule more often than not. For a 9 AM Pune meeting booked from Mumbai, that reliability is what settles the decision.

What you do with the travel time also matters. On the expressway, you sit in traffic. On the train, you work, sleep, or watch what the landscape does once the ghats begin. That last option is worth planning for deliberately.

Stations Along the Route and What You Can Do at Each Stop

Not every halt on this corridor is equally interesting. Some are functional transit points. A few are worth stepping off for.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT): The Starting Point

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus kicks off nearly every train bound for Pune from Mumbai. Standing since 1887, it opened under the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. Recognition came in 2004 with the global heritage status by UNESCO. Outside, you’ll find pointed arches, detailed metal railings, stone creatures leering down, plus a tall dome at its heart. Step indoors, colored glass glows above ticket counters. That glow? It filters through art embedded in high windows. Commuters who pass through daily stopped registering any of this years ago. Surprise fills most faces at the sight of that ceiling. If you get there ahead, wander outside rather than stand still as minutes fade.Trains to Pune leave mostly from the eastern side. Before 8 AM the concourse is still quiet enough to actually take the place in; after that, the suburban crowd makes it difficult.

Dadar Central: The Transfer Hub

Nine kilometres from CSMT, Dadar is where passengers from Mumbai’s western suburbs join intercity trains to Pune without coming all the way to CSMT. Central and Western Railway lines overlap here. The station is always busy and does not reward lingering. Get to the platform, find your coach, sit down.

Thane: Where Indian Railways Actually Started

Every morning now, people ride the Thane route without knowing where they really are. Around here once rolled the very first train in India, fourteen cars packed with four hundred souls. That day was April 16, 1853. The rails stretched between CSMT and Thane, just thirty-four kilometres long. Today’s commuters glance at phones or stare out windows. Few think about wheels turning there more than a century ago. History hums beneath their feet each time the doors close.

Kalyan Junction: Where the Line Splits

54 kilometres from CSMT lies the Kalyan Junction. This is the point where the track divides into two ways: the southeast portion goes on to Pune while the northeastern part goes on to Igatpuri and Kasara. To say that this station is busy is an understatement, this station is always packed. This is also one of the last urban stops in the Mumbai to Pune route before nature with its hills and lush greenery takes over. 

Passengers looking to catch their train at this junction must check the live train status first of their trains. This service provides the most updated information on your train and even provides the platform number on which your train will halt.

Read More:Popular Trains That Pass Through Kalyan Junction: Routes and Timings

Karjat: The Batata Vada Halt

Down the line at exactly one hundred kilometres sits Karjat, cradled where the land meets the rise of Bhor Ghat. It halts here out of necessity as the front engine lacks the strength for what comes next. Steep ground follows, a climb rated one in forty, too much alone. Additional power arrives in the form of two, sometimes three, strong electric units linking up behind the carriages. Only then does motion resume. The halt runs a few minutes.

What happens on the platform in those few minutes is its own institution. Vendors are at the carriage doors before the coaches finish stopping. Bursting out of brown bags, batata vada lands with sharp green chilies close by – chutneys wait nearby, one sweet, one tart. A sturdy coat of chickpea batter wraps hot potato filling; tiny pops of mustard seed bring heat, whereas garlic bits plus soft cilantro brighten every mouthful. Hot oil shapes its crunch, texture coarse yet airy when you tear it open. Still hot. Gone before the train starts moving. Regulars on this corridor treat it as non-negotiable. First-timers miss it because they are not at the door in time.

Khandala: The View Station

About 625 metres above sea level, 120 kilometres from CSMT. Here, people stop staring at screens. Rising beside the rails, a sharp rock face called the Duke’s Nose watches over the line. It got its name from Wellington’s profile. Across, ground vanishes into the Khandala Ravine below.

Waterfalls run off the rock walls during the monsoon. In the dry months the basalt is dark and the lines of sight are long. Less visible to most passengers is the history underneath the scenery: the original GIPR reversing station was right here in the nineteenth century. Back then, trains heading into the ghat slipped onto a side line, turned around, then climbed higher along a sharper twin route step by step. When electric lines arrived in 1929, that old system faded out as fresh tunnels took its place. The footprint of the old configuration is still legible from certain approach angles, if you are watching for it.

Lonavala: Chikki and the Summit

Eight kilometres past Khandala, Lonavala is where the climb ends. Banker locomotives uncouple here and return to Karjat. The descent toward Pune begins from this station.

The chikki sold here has a specific origin tied directly to this railway line. During the 1880s, GIPR was still cutting through the Bhor Ghat and Bhivrajji Agarwal, a local sweet-maker, started producing a mix of roasted peanuts and melted jaggery for the construction labourers: calorie-dense, cheap, and portable. As the line opened to the public, passengers started buying it at Lonavala in such volumes that trains were sometimes delayed. The railway contracted Bhivrajji’s son Maganlal to package it for onboard sale. He renamed it chikki, from the Marathi word for sticky. The shop bearing his name still stands directly opposite Lonavala station.

Pune Junction: The End of the Line

Out past Pune Junction, the rail lines split – Mumbai on one arm, Miraj and Londa stretching out beyond. When your train from Mumbai rolls to a stop, motion hits at once. Bags lift onto shoulders. Auto rickshaws edge closer. Drivers call names into the air. People do not wait around. If you have also booked a return ticket from Pune to Mumbai, you can check the PNR Status of your booking. Being aware of your seat confirmation and details is better than checking it at the last moment. 

What the Bhor Ghat Climb Actually Feels Like

The stretch from Karjat to Lonavala is why people book this train over the bus. The train enters a rock cutting and the walls close in. Then they open and a valley appears that was not there thirty seconds earlier. Waterfalls drop off the basalt. The train slows, pushed steadily from behind, and the whole thing moves at a deliberate pace rather than a hurried one. Tunnel entry is something you hear before you see: engine noise builds inside the carriage, compresses, then clears on exit.

Monsoon turns the ghat into a different place. Cloud fills the valleys. The waterfalls are heavier. Mist sits between the ridges and moves while you are watching it, which is the part photographs never quite capture. A still image of this section during monsoon looks good. The experience is the mist shifting continuously as the train moves through it, and those are two different things.

The dry season gives you clarity instead of atmosphere. The basalt is sharp against a clear sky. The terrain makes more sense when you can read it without haze in the way.

The visual peak of the ascent is the Khandala Ravine: the canyon opens beside the track, the Konkan plains are far below, the Duke’s Nose fills the skyline across from it. Most regulars on this corridor will tell you to sit on the right side of the train heading from Mumbai to Pune for the best angles through this section. Worth following.

The Trains on the Mumbai to Pune Route

The fleet on this corridor covers most timing needs across the day. Daily intercity trains run from early morning through late evening. Weekly and long-distance expresses pass through on specific days. The sections below break them out by type.

The Flagship: Deccan Queen

Leaving CSMT at 17:10, Train 12123 heads from Mumbai toward Pune. From the opposite end, 12124 rolls out of Pune. It hits its destination by 20:25 after a run lasting three hours and fifteen minutes. This stretch marks the quickest standard intercity timing found here.

Out back, the dining car makes this train different with forty chairs, cool air inside, meals brought to you, wide glass views that stretch sideways. Not long after sunrise, plates show up with baked beans on toast; others get chicken cutlets, or fried fish alongside crispy potatoes. Cheese slides onto hot bread while history quietly stays put as the colonial times served these same bites, regular riders kept them close, refusal to erase even one favorite. Most runs fill the dining car. Book a seat in advance.

The Deccan Queen also carries a Vistadome coach.

Superfast Morning Trains

Indrayani Express (22105/22106): Leaving CSMT at 05:40, reaching Pune by 09:05, that’s three hours and twenty-five minutes of travel. Rolling on LHB coaches, start to finish.

Intercity SF Express (12127/12128): Left at six forty. Got there by ten. Took three hours, twenty minutes.

Whichever you pick, getting to Pune by morning is well covered. Arriving early? These options handle it just fine. CheckTrain Seat Availability a few days ahead on both: Monday and Friday departures sell out quickest.

The Vistadome Experience: Pragati and Deccan Express

Pragati Express (12125/12126): Leaving CSMT at 4:25 PM, it reaches Pune by 7:50 PM. The path cuts through Panvel then Karjat. A Vistadome car rides along for the trip.

Deccan Express (11007/11008): Leaving at seven means you get light for the mountain stretch. By eleven o five, it’s done. There is also a Vistadome coach on the train. The glass-topped car comes with the deal, offering clear views up through the hills. The view is exceptionally beautiful during the day time. 

The Vistadome coach is placed on the Pragati Express as its last coach. This is intentional as the rear coach provides a better view of the Western Ghats. Above, sunlight pours through a ceiling made entirely of glass panels. Inside, chairs turn halfway around so you can shift your sightline. 

Evening Commuter Trains

Sinhagad Express (11009/11010):

This is one of the most popular and passenger heavy trains on the Mumbai to Pune route. It departs at 17:50 and reaches Pune by 21:50. Since, this is an evening train it is heavily packed especially on weekends where corporate people are travelling home to Pune from a meeting.

Semi-High-Speed Option

Solapur Vande Bharat Express (22225/22226): Leaving CSMT at 4:05 PM, reaches Pune by 7:10 PM as just over three hours spent moving. This trip clocks in as the quickest fixed ride along the route. Executive class available, catering included in the fare. When speed and comfort both matter and the ticket price is acceptable, this settles it.

Long-Distance Trains Passing Through

Udyan Express (11301): Every day, the train leaves CSMT at 7:55 in the morning. It reaches Pune by 11:40. After that, it goes on toward Bangalore. The Mumbai to Pune leg books independently.

Koyna Express (11029): Leaving CSMT at 8:40, reaching Pune by 12:35, then onward to Kolhapur. This is another train for passengers looking to travel in the morning.

Weekly Trains Worth Knowing

Some of the trains run only on a certain day of the week. Most of the people are unaware of these trains, but if you are looking desperately for a travel from Mumbai to Pune, these trains can make your journey possible. 

How Trains Manage the Descent: Brake Testing and Catch Sidings

Going up the Bhor Ghat gets the attention. The descent has its own operational discipline. Three mandatory brake-test halts on the way down from Lonavala to Karjat: each one a two-minute full stop, driver verifying braking pressure, no exceptions. Not a formality.

If the brakes give out anyway and the driver loses control, the train does not simply run. Spring-loaded switches along the descent route automatically divert it into a catch siding: a short dead-end track built to climb steeply into the adjacent hillside. The upward angle is the mechanism: it arrests an uncontrolled train through gravity alone. Those sidings are there because this gradient creates a specific failure scenario and the railway built a physical answer to it.

Ordering Food on the Train

The Deccan Queen dining car is a fixed experience with a fixed menu. Karjat and Lonavala platform vendors are good but depend on being at the right carriage door at exactly the right moment. However, neither of these options can satisfy your hunger if you want something restaurant quality or if you had your hunger call in the middle of the train route. However, passengers have a smarter alternative to these two choices. 

You can book food in train through RailMitra and restaurant food comes to your seat. On the Mumbai to Pune corridor, RailMitra has delivery partners active at CSMT, Dadar, Kalyan, Lonavala, and Pune Junction, drawing from a national network of over 2,500 FSSAI-approved restaurants across 450-plus stations.

How to Order Food In Train

Put your 10-digit PNR number into the RailMitra app or website. The system reads your train, coach, and seat from the PNR directly: no manual entry needed. Pick a delivery station where your train stops for at least five minutes, choose a restaurant, select your preferred food items, add them to the cart, and pay. UPI, cards, and net banking all work. Cash on delivery is available too. For offline orders, WhatsApp or call 8102888222.

Conclusion: Mumbai to Pune Train Journey

The Mumbai to Pune route is 192 kilometres that transitions from a coastal port city through a nineteenth-century mountain crossing to the edge of the Deccan Plateau. The infrastructure making that crossing possible took years to build and thousands of lives to complete. The trains running it today range from the Deccan Queen, doing this trip since 1930, to the Vande Bharat that a newer generation of commuters is growing up riding.

Pick your train on timing and budget. Book earlier than seems necessary for weekend travel. Sit on the right side heading from Mumbai to Pune. Do not miss the Karjat vada. And if it is your first time through the Bhor Ghat during the monsoon, put the phone down near Khandala. The view earns the full attention.