Indian Railways to Promote Rail Tourism By Running Six Pilgrim Special Tourist Packages from October 2014

With a view to promote rail tourism in the country and to provide reasonably priced tourism package to tourists, especially the pilgrims in the country, India Railways has finalised six pilgrim special tourist train packages in the first phase,  which will kick start from 25^th October 2014.

The Minister of Railways, Shri D.V.Sadananda Gowda, in his budget speech in July 2014, promised to run a tourist train covering the pilgrim and tourist places of Karnataka and Maharashtra. He also announced to run tourist trains in various Pilgrim Circuits like Devi Circuit, Jyotirling Circuit, Jain Circuit, Christian Circuit, Muslim / Sufi Circuit, Sikh Circuit, Buddhist Circuit, Famous Temple Circuit etc. The six packages starting from 25^th October 2014, aim at implementing the budget announcement.

Indian Railways Corporation & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a Public Sector Undertaking of the Ministry of Railways has been entrusted with the running of all the six Pilgrim Special Tourist Trains. The tourist packages are;  Sukhamngalam Yatra,  Dham special with Dakshin Darshan via Lucknow, Dham special with Dakshin Darshan via Jaipur, Shikharji Circuit Yatra, Jyotirling Yatra, and Takht Parikrama.

Indian Railways has been giving special emphasis on promotion of Rail Tourism. A few more such Pilgrim Circuit tourist trains, in consonance with the Budget Announcement of the  Minister for Railways, are also being planned to launch by this year-end.

The unique features of the tourist train/package are:

1.         Consists of Standard (SL Class), Comfort (3A Class) and Deluxe (2A Class) categories…all coaches specially renovated.

2.         All inclusive (train journey, boarding, onboard/off board meals, road transfers, sightseeing, guide etc.) package

3.         The exclusive train carries only tourists.

4.         The train has a separate pantry car to cater food to the tourists.

5.         There are different Boarding/De-boarding/station in the packages

(The detailed itinerates of these tour packages is enclosed herewith)  

ITINERARIES - PILGRIM SPECIAL TOURIST TRAINS
S.No.	Yatra Name	Date From - Date To	Duration	Itinerary	Price
1.	Sukhmangalam Yatra, starting from. Bangalore	25.10.14 - 03.11.14	09 nights/ 10 days	Bijapur, Solapur, Pandharpur, Aurangabad, Shirdi Sai Nagar, Badami, Hampi. Boarding/De-boarding points; Bangalore, Guntakal and Gadag.	Rs. 8,190 (Std) Rs. 17,730 (Comfort) Rs. 23,850 (Deluxe)
2.	Dham Special with Dakshin Darshan, starting from   Chandigarh  via Lucknow	27.10.14 - 13.11.14	17 nights/ 18 days	Ayodhya, Varanasi, Puri, Tirupati, Kanchipuram, Rameshwaram, Madurai, Kanyakumari, Aurangabad, Dwarka, Ujjain. Boarding/De-boarding points; Chandigarh, Ambala, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Rampur, Bareilly , Sahajahanpur, Lucknow.	Rs. 16380 (Std) Rs. 35,460 (Comfort) Rs. 47,700 (Deluxe)
3.	Dham Special with Dakshin Darshan, starting from  Chandigarh  via Jaipur	15.11.14 - 02.12.14	17 nights/ 18 days	Ayodhya, Varanasi, Puri, Tirupati, Kanchipuram, Rameshwaram, Madurai, Kanyakumari, Aurangabad, Dwarka, Ujjain Boarding/De-boarding points; Delhi Cantt, Rewari, Jaipur.	Rs. 16380 (Std) Rs. 35,460 (Comfort) Rs. 47,700 (Deluxe)
4.	Shikharji Circuit Yatra, starting from. Jaipur	05.12.14 - 11.12.14	06 nights/ 07 days	Rajgir, Pawapuri, Badagaon,  Parasnath, Varanasi. Boarding/De-boarding points; Jaipur, Kanpur,  Kanpur, Lucknow, Sultmpur, Varanasi	Rs. 6,370 (Std) Rs. 13,790 (Comfort) Rs. 18,550 (Deluxe)
5	Jyotirling Yatra,  starting from Jaipur	13.12.14 - 24.12.14	11 nights/ 12 days	Mahakaleshwar, Omkareshwar, Nageshwar, Somnath, Grishneshwar, Trayambkeshwar, Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga Boarding/De-boarding points; Jaipur	Rs. 10,920 (Std) Rs.  23,640 (Comfort) Rs. 31,800 (Deluxe)
6.	Takht Parikrama, starting from. Jammu Tawi	29.12.14 - 07.01.15	09 nights/ 10 days	Gwalior, Nanded, Bidar, Patna Sahib. Boarding/De-boarding points; Jammu Tawi, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Ambala, Delhi Safsarjung.	Rs. 9,100 (Std) Rs. 19,700 (Comfort) Rs. 26,500 (Deluxe)
INCLUSIONS: TRAVEL IN SL/3A/2A, ONBOARD/OFFBOARD MEALS, HOTEL/DHARAMSHALA ACCOMMODATION, ROAD TRANSFERS, SIGHTSEEING, GUIDE FACILITIES ETC.