We had a first hand experience of travel by North East Express Train (Nos. 12506 / 12505) in Sep – Oct 2023. Before embarking on the journey we were feverishly looking for reviews of the train as we wanted to get a fair idea of what to expect before making the ticket bookings. Therefore, we did research on Google and Youtube to find information related to this train.
What came out of the research was utter confusion and it was hard to decide. However, as the train runs daily and had convenient departure and arrival timings at source and destination, we went ahead and made the booking. I wish we had come across some comprehensive review of the train while doing our research.
This review article will hopefully give you some fair idea to let you decide for yourself before you purchase the ticket.
You can check out the guide here, which contains details of personal experience on the train.
Lets begin with some key information about the train.
| Train Number and Train Name | 12506 – North East Express |
| Source station | Anand Vihar Terminal (AVT) Scheduled Departure: 07:40 |
| Destination station | Kamakhya (KYQ) Scheduled Arrival: 16:25 |
| Total Distance Covered (km) | 1845 |
| Total Travel Time (hr:mm) (including halts) | 32:45 |
| Halts / Stops | 29 |
| Halt Time (hr:mm) | 2:01 |
| Travel Time (hr:mm) (excluding halts) | 30:44 |
| Average Speed (excluding halts) | 60 kmph |
| Top Speed (based on phone gps measurement) | 130 kmph |
| Coaches | 2AC 3AC SL |
| Runs on | Daily |
| Return Train Number and Train Name | 12505 – North East Express Kamakhya (KYQ) Scheduled Departure: 12:40 Anand Vihar Terminal (AVT) Scheduled Arrival: 21:50 |
What we like about it:
- Speed:
During our journey, the train reached a top speed of 130 kmph and was maintaining a good pace throughout. There were hardly any unscheduled stoppages. Due to numerous stops (29), it takes a long time to cover a distance of 1845 km.
In contrast, the fastest DBRT Rajdhani (Train number 12424) on the route takes 27 hours and 5 mins to cover the same distance with the total number of stops being 15 i.e. almost half compared to North East Express.
North East Express is clearly in the league of some prestigious trains plying the route like Rajdhani and Tejas when it comes to speed factor.
- Food:
The fact that the train has a pantry is a big advantage when it comes to traveling long distances. In several long distance trains, there is no pantry car, which means that it becomes a struggle to get even a bottle of water or a cup of tea, let alone meals and snacks.
However, we would advise to keep expectations at a realistic level as the food quality is just average.
- Route:
The route of the train is another advantage as it takes the most direct route from Delhi to Guwahati. It traverses the immense indo-gangetic plain, brahmaputra valley in Assam and numerous large rivers in between. The train passes through five states, which means that the view out of the window is constantly changing and never boring.
This is a big plus of the train and one of the core reasons for which we selected it. It departs from Anand Vihar Terminal (AVT) at 07:40 AM and arrives at Kamakhya Junction (KYQ) at 16:45 PM as per schedule. However, it often gets delayed by a few hours. We knew of this fact before booking tickets and baked this delay into our travel plan.
- Timing:
This is a big plus of the train and one of the core reasons for which we selected it. It departs from Anand Vihar Terminal (AVT) at 07:40 AM and arrives at Kamakhya Junction (KYQ) at 16:45 PM as per schedule. However, it often gets delayed by a few hours. We knew of this fact before booking tickets and baked this delay into our travel plan.
Pro Tip: As the trains run daily, it is easy as well as recommended to check the departure and arrival history for the week before you travel. This way you will be fully aware of the delay trend at that time. Expect some significant delays during winter months due to usual foggy weather conditions at that time and also during monsoon, when northern states and Assam suffer annual floods.
- Cost:
The train has 2A, 3A and Sleeper coaches only. We traveled by sleeper coach, the fare for which was very reasonable. If you are embarking on a budget trip, definitely consider the North East Express while making plans.
What we don’t like about it:
- Punctuality:
The train is habitually late at the terminus station, which is Kamakhya Junction (KYQ). Due to this delay, it might often be a great inconvenience to travel to Guwahati proper during late at night as only the skeleton transport system will be in operation at that time.
We were constantly monitoring the progress of the train through the NTES app on mobile and had a backup plan to stay in a hotel near Kamakhya Junction in case the train delays too much.
- Hygiene:
Although Indian Railways has started paying keen attention to cleanliness of the coaches, the old model of the coaches in North East Express and dilapidated condition of toilets have presumably made it a challenge for proper upkeep.
There was no concept of a bio-toilet in the coach as it was very old and not renovated. The passing track could be seen through the toilet, taking back the passenger in time to the era when this was quite normal.Expect to see some insect varieties here and there.
- Coach quality:
The coach was very old and not maintained properly. We were shocked to see such an old coach, which was well past its retirement age it seemed.
- Availability of tickets:
Due to the numerous stops, 29 to be precise, the train is immensely popular for people living on this route. Due to population pressure and accompanying demand, it can be a challenge to obtain confirmed tickets on this route.
We were victims of this huge demand for tickets on this train as even after getting to RAC, our tickets did not confirm till after Siliguri.
Our recommendation would be to plan well in advance to avoid last minute hiccups and uncertainty as it is a really long route from source to destination.
- Number of stops:
The number of stops is 29, which makes it too many. This also results in hawkers of all kinds boarding the coaches and turning it into a market on wheels of a sort. It also results in passengers with general and unreserved tickets boarding the coaches in hordes and occupying reserved seats.
In sleeper coaches, it becomes very suffocating and altercations between passengers are a common sight due to this.
Final Verdict
After traveling 70 hours on the train (both ways) in hot weather, we can say with confidence that if budget is not a constraint, consider upgrading to AC coaches as it will result in a paradigm shift in your experience on the train and this is something that we will surely do when booking again on this train.
If only the train was better maintained and people observed some discipline, it would have been a different experience altogether we believe.
There is no dearth of alternate trains running on this route so you can weigh the pros and cons accordingly and book tickets.
For us, we would like to travel again on the train due to cost and time advantage but definitely in the AC compartment till the time the sleeper coaches are modernized by railways.
Overall Rating: 3/5
