Inaugural dates of famous mail trains:-
1. Madras Bangalore Mail Mon Aug 01, 1864.
2. 1 up/2dn Kalka Mail Mon Jan 01, 1866. 1864 Kolkata Cyclone damaged rail line from HWH to BWN. nearly 1.5 yrs taken to restore the line. Work ended on Sat Dec 30, 1865, Kalka Mail inaugurated on Mon Jan 01, 1866.
3. Howrah Bombay Mail via Jabalpur Mon Mar...
more...

07, 1870.
4. Darjeeling Mail July 15, 1878. Break journey SDAH-Damukhdia in 1st leg; Padma Cross; then Ishwardi-Siliguri in 2nd Leg. Year taken From IRFCA.
5. Peshawar/Lahore-Amritsar-Howrah Punjab Mail 1896. Year taken From IRFCA.
6. Howrah Madras Mail Wed Aug 15, 1900. see Wiki
6. 29 up/30 Dn Delhi Lucknow Mail Sep 02, 1900. Lucknow Moradabad made in 1873, Delhi Moradabad line made in 1900. see Wiki
7. Peshawar/Lahore-Firozpur-Delhi-Bombay Punjab Mail Tue Mar 14, 1905
8. Bombay-Madras Mail Thu Dec 01, 1921.
9. Peshawar/Lahore-Amritsar-Delhi-Bombay Frontier Mail Sat Sep 01, 1928
10. Grand Trunk Express. Mon Apr 01, 1929.
11. Howrah Bombay Mail via Nagpur June 8, 1930. Howrah-Bilaspur in BG, Bilaspur-Nagpur in MG & Nagpur-Bombay in BG. Bilaspur-Nagpur MG line made into BG on 1936.

To presume Section open with Mail Service is incorrect!! Pic 3 Analysis
Halt Pattern: 1867 HWH Chord Mail - 5 out of 31 (Pass 19 & Local Pass 31)* 1868 MAS-SBC/CBE - 16/15/12 out of 21 and 26/25/23 out of 30 (Stopped every Station past JTJ. Projected Mail got most halt)
Speed: 1867 HWH Chord Mail manage 60 against 41 (2nd Best) * 1868 MAS-SBC/CBE manage 34/27/24 ((Projected MAS Mail was 2nd best)
If...
more...

SBC/Bypore Mail started 1864/1862, how come their halt pattern & speed was as good as passenger & improved in 1935 or earlier when regular Exp show up. We still dont open any Section straightway with Exp Service & 1/2 Mail show up on 1 Aug 1962, two years after HWH-Yamuna Bank was done. Further JTJ-SBC was first connected on 3 Aug 1864 as it get celebrated on 3rd not 1st Aug!!
(/blog/post/4974195 /blog/post/4974195