The 12382 / 12381 Poorva Express are daily superfast express trains of

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

running between

Howrah Howrah (, , alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River opposite its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively it lies within Howrah district, and is t ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the four ...

, and

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...

, the capital city of

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. The name ''Poorva'' signifies the eastern part of

, and the train attracts travellers from

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . ...

History

Prior to the introduction of the

Rajdhani Express Rajdhani may refer to: * ''Rajdhani'' (film), 1956 Indian film * ''Rajadhani'' (1994 film), Indian Malayalam-language film * ''Rajadhani'' (2011 film), Indian Kannada-language film * Rajdhani, Kotli, a village in Pakistan * Rajdhani, Gorakhpur, ...

, the Deluxe Express was the premium category superfast trains of India. Fully air conditioned and superfast, they were given the highest priority in Indian Railways. There were two of them. One use to imply between

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Maj ...

and

Bandra Bandra (Indian English, æːɳɖɾa also known as Vandre (Help:IPA/Marathi, �aːn̪d̪ɾe is an upscale coastal suburb located in Mumbai (Bombay) area of the Konkan division, Maharashtra, India. The suburb is located to the immediate nor ...

, and another from

. Both of them use to carry the ICF Rajdhani liveried coaches. Later with due course of time the Deluxe Express till Bandra was renamed as

Paschim Express The 12925 / 12926 Paschim Express is a Superfast Express train belonging to Indian Railways that runs between Bandra Terminus in Mumbai (Maharashtra) and Amritsar in Punjab. It is a daily service. It operates as train number 12925 / 22925 fr ...

while the Deluxe Express till Howrah was renamed as Poorva Express. The Poorva Express was launched on the 2nd of October, 1956 and ran as the first fully air conditioned train of India. With due course of time, the "fully Air Conditioned" was stripped off from its name to accommodate additional Non-AC sleeper Coaches and was subsequently terminated till

. And with the launch of trains like

Udyan Abha Toofan Express The 13007 / 13008 Udyan Abha Toofan Express was an Express train belonging to Indian Railways – Eastern Railway zone that used to run between and Sri Ganganagar in India. It operated as train number 13007 from Howrah to Sri Ganganagar and a ...

and

Howrah Rajdhani Express ''Howrah Rajdhani Express'' (also known as ''Kolkata Rajdhani Express'') is a Rajdhani-class train of Indian Railways connects the capital of West Bengal, Cultural Capital of India,Captial before the British Kolkata to the National Capital of I ...

, it lost its grandeur and subsequently its priority. It was relegated to Maroon-cream coloured Coaches with no tubelights only bulbs inside the coach first and then to Standard Blue ICF Coaches with tubelights inside the coach. But later before getting refurbished to LHB coach in April 2013, being the first superfast category train to receive them. Though it suffered with time, but its popularity never ceased. Due to its huge demand, Indian Railways introduced a second pair of Poorva Express on 1 August 1971 via Patna. Not only that, during its peak time it was one of the longest train with a load of 24 coaches and was used to be hauled by twin WDM-2 engines between

Mughalsarai Mughalsarai (; English: ''Mughal Tavern''), officially known as Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Nagar, is a city and a municipal board in the Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh. Located around from Varanasi, it is an important railway jun ...

and

Chittaranjan Chittaranjan is a census town in the Salanpur CD block in the Asansol Sadar subdivision of Paschim Bardhaman district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is popularly known for the Chittaranjan Locomotive Works. It was recently featured in ...

Coach composition

The train has standard LHB rakes/ICF rakes with a max speed of 130 km/h. The train consists of 22 coaches: * 1HA (1st AC cum 2A) * 2 AC II Tier * 5 AC III Tier * 9 Sleeper Coaches * 1 Pantry Car * 2 General Unreserved * 2 HOG

Gallery

File:12303 Poorva Express - EOG.jpg, alt=Poorva SF Express, ''12304 Poorva Express -

EOG Electrooculography (EOG) is a technique for measuring the corneo-retinal standing potential that exists between the front and the back of the human eye. The resulting signal is called the electrooculogram. Primary applications are in ophthalmol ...

'' File:12303 Poorva Express - Sleep Class coach.jpg, ''12304 Poorva Express -

Sleeper Class The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the American innovator of the sleeper car. The first such cars s ...

coach'' File:Poorva Express at New Delhi.jpg, ''Poorva Express at

'' File:Poorva Express at New Delhi with Ghaziabad based WAP 7.jpg, ''Poorva Express at New Delhi with a

Ghaziabad Ghaziabad () is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and a part of Delhi NCR. It is the administrative headquarters of Ghaziabad district and is the largest city in western Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 1,729,000. Ghaziabad Muni ...

based

WAP 7 The Indian locomotive class WAP-7 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1999 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), AC Current (A), Passenger traffic ...

'' File:Ghaziabad based WAP 7 ready to haul the Poorva Express.jpg, ''

based

ready to haul the Poorva Express ''

Route & Halts

Howrah Junction Howrah railway station, also known as Howrah Junction, is a railway station located in the city of Howrah, West Bengal, India. It is also the oldest and largest existing railway complex in India. It is one of the busiest train stations in the w ...

* Bardhaman junction * Durgapur *

Asansol Junction Asansol Junction railway station (station code: ASN) is a Division of Eastern Railway Zone in Asansol Sadar subdivision of Paschim Bardhaman district in the Indian state of West Bengal. The station is on the Howrah–Delhi main line. It is th ...

* chitranjan * Madhupur * Jasidih *

Jhajha Jhajha is a city and a notified area in Jamui district in the Indian state of Bihar. It lies in the southern part of Bihar very close to the Jharkhand border. It falls on the Howrah - Mughalsarai mainline about halfway between Madhupur Junction a ...

* Jamui * Kiul *

Patna Junction Patna Junction (station code PNBE) is a major railway station in the capital city of Patna in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the main railway station serving Patna. It falls under the Danapur division of the East Central Railway zone of the ...

* Danapur * Ara Junction * Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhayaya Junction * Prayagraj Junction *

Kanpur Central Kanpur Central (formerly known as Cawnpore North Barracks, station code: CNB) is a central and junction railway station in the city of Kanpur and is one of the five central Indian railway stations. It is third busiest in country after Howrah ...

* Etawah * Tundla *

Aligarh Junction railway station Aligarh Junction railway station is an 'A' class junction station on the Kanpur–Delhi section of Howrah–Delhi main line and Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line. It is located in Aligarh district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It serves A ...

Traction

It is regularly hauled by a Howrah Loco Shed based

(HOG) equipped locomotive on its entire journey.

Rake Sharing

The train shares its rake with 12381/12382

Poorva Express (via Gaya) The 12381 / 12382 Poorva Express is a Superfast train belonging to Eastern Railway zone that runs between Howrah Junction and New Delhi in India. It is currently being operated with 12381/12382 train numbers on a tri-weekly basis. History B ...

Train detail

Accidents and incidents

On 14 December 2014 the 12381 UP Howrah - New Delhi Poorva Express derailed at 8.27 am after leaving Howrah at 8.15 am. 11 sleeper coaches and a pantry car (AC Hot Buffet Car) of the New Delhi-bound Poorva Express derailed at

Liluah Liluah (also spelled Lillooah) is a neighbourhood in Howrah city of Howrah district, West Bengal, India. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). Liluah has a railway junction, which is the first sta ...

shortly after leaving Howrah station. There were no casualties or injuries to any passengers, railway officials said. The train was moving at a slow speed when it derailed, the officials said, adding that the reasons for the mishap were being examined. What saved the passengers was the speed of the train. "The Poorva Express was moving at 10 to 15 km/h when the accident occurred. The average speed of the train is 63 km/h, though it can travel at 120 km/h. Derailment at higher speeds would have been catastrophic," an official said.

References

External links

Poorva Express/12303Poorva Express/12304Poorva Express
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poorva Express Rail transport in Jharkhand Rail transport in Bihar Delhi–Kolkata trains Railway services introduced in 1950 Express trains in India Named passenger trains of India Rail transport in Uttar Pradesh Rail transport in Delhi Rail transport in West Bengal]