The 12505 / 12506 North East Express is a Daily express train of Indian Railways that runs between Kamakhya Junction in Guwahati, Assam and Anand Vihar Terminal near New Delhi, connecting northeastern India to New Delhi. The train belongs to the Northeast Frontier Railway zone of Indian Railways, while the coaches belong to the Kamakhya coaching depot of the Lumding railway division.
The North East Express succeeded the Assam Mail in 1986. The train runs along the Barauni–Guwahati line, Mokama–Barauni section, and the Howrah–Delhi main line.
Service The train is numbered as 12505/12506. Originally, the North East Express was not a Superfast Express (broad gauge trains with an average speed of at least 55 km/h) and used service numbers 921 and 922 when introduced in 1986. In 1988, the train was reassigned with 2521 and 2522, later replaced with 5621 and 5622. It used to run between Guwahati and New Delhi. In the railway budget of 2005–2006, it was sped up to the broad gauge Superfast category without the removal of any stops. The new numbers assigned in the Superfast category were 2505 from Guwahati and 2506 from New Delhi. With the new five-digit numbering scheme introduced during the tenure of Mamata Banerjee as railway minister, the service numbers were changed to 12505 and 12506. The train now starts from Kamakhya Junction railway station at Maligaon and runs up to Anand Vihar Terminal instead of Guwahati and New Delhi.
Coaches The train has air-conditioned as well as non-air-conditioned coaches. The composition of the train is 2A – 1 (A-1), 3A – 3 (B-1, B-2, B-3), SL – 14 (S-1 to S-14), PC – 1, GENL – 3 & SLR – 2. The total rake length is 24 coaches. New LHB rakes were introduced on 3 October 2019.
Stations
Delhi to Guwahati
List of stops on the North East Express from Delhi to Guwahati StateTown/CityStationDistance (km) Delhi Delhi 0Uttar Pradesh Aligarh 126 Tundla 204 Etawah 296 Kanpur 435 Fatehpur 513 Prayagraj 629 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Nagar 778Bihar Buxar 872 Arrah 941 Danapur 980 Patna 986 Barauni 1095 Begusarai 1110 Khagaria 1150 Mansi 1159 Naugachia 1217 Katihar 1274 Barsoi 1313 Kishanganj 1371West Bengal Siliguri 1458 Jalpaiguri 1491 Cooch Behar 1584 Alipurduar 1603AssamGossaigaonGossaigaon Hat1645 Kokrajhar 1681 Bongaigaon 1709 Bijni 1724 Barpeta 1751 Rangia 1819 Maligaon 1856
Guwahati to Delhi
List of stops on the North East Express from Guwahati to Delhi StateTown/CityStationDistance (km)Assam Maligaon 0 Rangia 48 Barpeta 105 Bijni 133 Bongaigaon 157 Kokrajhar 185GossaigaonGossaigaon Hat210West BengalAlipurduar 264Cooch Behar 283Jalpaiguri 375Siliguri 409Bihar Kishanganj 496 Barsoi 553 Katihar 593 Naugachia 650 Mansi 708 Khagaria 716 Begusarai 757 Barauni 772 Patna 880 Danapur 886 Arrah 926 Buxar 994Uttar Pradesh Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Nagar 1088 Prayagraj 1237 Fatehpur 1354 Kanpur 1432 Etawah 1571 Tundla 1663 Aligarh 1741 Ghaziabad 1844 Delhi Delhi 1856
Traction It is hauled by a Ghaziabad Loco Shed-based WAP-7 electric locomotive from end to end.
Accidents and incidents On 11 October 2023 at 21:35 IST, 23 coaches of the eastbound 12506 train derailed near Raghunathpur Railway Station in the Buxar district of Bihar. Five people were killed in the crash and more than 70 others were injured. The East Central Railway zone facilitated relief trains to ferry the remaining passengers to their destination. A preliminary investigation report cited an issue with the track.
References