Neelachal Express

The 12875 / 12876 Neelachal Express is a tri-weekly train which runs between Puri in Odisha and Anand Vihar Terminal railway station. It is one of the oldest trains that connect Puri to Anand Vihar Terminal. The main towns along the route are Bhubaneshwar, Cuttack, Bhadrak, Balasore, Hijili, Tatanagar, Bokaro Steel City, Muri, Gomoh, Gaya, Mughalsarai, Varanasi, Bhadohi, Rae Bareli, Lucknow, Unnao and Kanpur. It operates three times per week and covers a distance of 1912 km from Puri to Anand Vihar Terminal. Neelachal Express consists of 1 AC First Class coach, 2 Second AC coach, 6 Third AC coaches, 7 Sleeper Class coaches, 2 General (Un-Reserved) coaches, 1 Pantry Car, 1 Divyangjan Coach and 1 EOG.

Coach composition
The 12875/ 12876 Puri–Anand Vihar Terminal Neelachal Express presently has 1 AC First Class, 2 AC 2 tier, 6 AC 3 tier, 7 Sleeper Class, 2 Second Class seating, 1 Divyangjan Coach and 1 EOG coach. Also, it does have a pantry car.

As with most train services in India, coach composition may be amended at the discretion of Indian Railways depending on demand.

Service
12875 Puri–Anand Vihar Terminal Neelachal Express covers the distance of 1914 kilometers in 24 hours 50 mins (57.20 km/h) and in 24 hours 25 mins as 12876 Anand Vihar Terminal–Puri Neelachal Express (59.48 km/h).

It takes around 34 hours and 50 minutes to cover 1914 km at an average speed of 54 kph with 39 halts.

Neelachal Express was moved from New Delhi to Anand Vihar Terminal in May 2018.

Timetable
From Puri to Anand Vihar Terminal - 12875. The train starts from Puri every Sunday, Tuesday & Friday.

From Anand Vihar Terminal to Puri – 12876. The train starts from Anand Vihar Terminal every Sunday, Tuesday and Friday.

Background
This train is given name on The abode of Hindu deity Jagannath at Puri is known as the Nilachal or Niladri, [Nila (Blue) + Achal (Mountain)] meaning, The Blue Mountain. The Nilachal is a place of high religious significance in Hinduism and is one of the four Char Dhams. Religious teachers like Shri Ramanuja Acharya, Swami Vishnuswami visited Nilachal in the twelfth century and established a mathas. Shri Nimbarka Acharya also visited Puri, as also Guru Nanak Dev and many other Acharyas. Shri Chaitanya spent 18 years at Nilachal dhama.

Coach composition
The train has Mordern LHB rakes with a maximum speed of 130 km/h.


 * 1 AC First Class
 * 2 AC II Tier
 * 6 AC III Tier
 * 1 Pantry Car
 * 7 Sleeper Coaches
 * 2 General
 * 1 Divyanjan cum Guard Coach
 * 1 EOG

Route and halts
The train runs from Puri via Khurda Road, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Balasore, Hijli, Tatanagar, Bokaro Steel City, Gomoh, Gaya Junction, Mughalsarai Junction, Varanasi, Pratapgarh Junction, Rae Bareli Junction, Lucknow Charbagh, Unnao Junction, Kanpur Central, Hathras Junction, Aligarh Junction to Anand Vihar Terminal.

As the route is fully electrified, Ghaziabad-based WAP-7 locomotive powers the train from Puri to Anand Vihar Terminal.