After being restricted to a modest total, Railways hit back to check Punjab's progress on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Elite cricket final at Mohali, Chandigarh on Thursday.
Railways picked four wickets for 36 runs in the final session to hurt Punjab's hopes of a decisive first innings lead at the PCA stadium.
At stumps, the hosts were struggling at 159 for four, a long way from a strong 102 for no loss inside the 35th over.
Stand-in captain Pankaj Dharmani was batting on 24 with Muneesh Sharma on 13.
Madan Yadav picked two for 25 and gave the visitors the first break with the wicket of Reetinder Singh Sodhi.
Sodhi was unlucky to fall hit wicket for 51 (102b, 8x4) which also saw the end of his opening stand with Ravneet Ricky who was bowled by Yadav for 47 seven runs later.
Harvinder Singh and Kulamani Parida rubbed salt into Punjab's wounds, removing Ankur Kakkar and Gaurav Gupta respectively.
Punjab are 196 runs behind with six wickets in hand, and Railways would settle for it after being bowled out for 355.
Resuming at 287 for five, Railways lost their remaining wickets for the addition of 68 runs.
Raja Ali's 193-ball 80 with 10 fours was instrumental in giving the former champions a semblence of respectability.
Ali added 53 runs for the seventh wicket with Sudhir Wankhede (35) before the last four wickets fell for 10 runs.
Vineet Sharma grabbed five for 91 for the hosts.
Scoreboard
Railways (1st innings):
Sanjay Bangar c Sanwal b Sharma 79
Amit Pagnis lbw Sharma 40
Tejinder Pal Singh c Dharmani b Sodhi 11
Jai P Yadav b Sharma 63
Raja Ali c Dharmani b Sharma 80
Yere Goud lbw Singh 15
S Khanolkar lbw Gagandeep Singh 9
S Wankhede c Sanwal b Rajesh Sharma 35
Harvinder Singh b Rajesh Sharma 1
K Parida b Sharma 0
M Yadav not out 0
Extras: (b 2, w 1, nb 19) 22
Total: (all out, 120.1 overs) 355
Fall of wicket: 1-60, 2-77,3-200, 4-213, 5-269, 6-292, 7-345, 8-355, 9-355.
Bowling: Gagandeep Singh 30-9-54-1, Vineet Sharma 28.1-6-91-5, Singh 23-0-79-1, Sodhi 7-0-53-1, Sanwal 10-1-31-0, Rajesh Sharma 20-4-42-2, Kakkar 2-1-3-0.
Punjab (1st innings):
R Ricky b M Yadav 47
RS Sodhi hit wicket b M Yadav 51
A Kakkar c J P Yadav b Harvinder Singh 2
P Dharmani batting 24
G Gupta lbw Parida 13
M Sharma batting 13
Extras: (b-2, lb-5, nb-2) 9.
Total: (for 4 wickets, 59 overs) 159
Fall of wickets: 1-102, 2-109,3-109, 4-136.
Bowling: Harvinder Singh 15-4-37-1, Jai P Yadav 15-4-45-0, Sanjay Bangar 8-0-20-0, M Yadav 15-8-25-2, Kulamani Parida 6-0-25-1.