It started as Howrah-Delhi 'bi-weekly air-conditioned vestibuled' express and was extended to Amritsar on certain days of the week, a few years later. By 1967, a new Deluxe via Patna was introduced. As of 1975, The tri-weekly 81/82 via Gaya was running till Amritsar once a week, and the bi-weekly 103/104 via Patna was running to Amritsar once a week.
Sometime after the frequency of the Deluxe via Patna was increased to 4 days a week in 1989, the Deluxe started terminating at Delhi daily and in the vacant slots, the Paschim express was extended to Amritsar on a daily basis.