Travel enthusiasts looking forward to religious tourism have good news coming their way from the Indian Railways. The (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) IRCTC is all set to run the first tourism special Bharat Gaurav train from Kolkata on 20 May, under the central government’s “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat” and “Dekho Apna Desh” initiatives.

The tourist special, Bharat Gaurav Train, according to the general manager of the Eastern Railway, will cover five Jyotirlingas – Omkareshwar, Mahakaleshwar, Somnath, Nageswar and Trimbakeshwar along with Statue of Unity, Shirdi Sai Baba and Shani Shingnapur. The train will commence on the spiritual journey from Kolkata Station and will continue the pilgrim experience for 11 nights and 12 days. The journey would include boarding and deboarding of passengers at stations like Bandel, Burdwan, Bolpur Shantiniketan, Rampurhat, Pakur, Sahibganj, Kahalgaon, Bhagalpur, Jamalpur, Kiul, Barauni, Samastipur, Muzaffarpur, Hajipur, Patliputra, Ara, Buxar, Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay and Prayagraj Chheoki. According to the Eastern Railway, the tour package has been classified into three categories – Economy (SL class) with 315 seats, Standard (3 AC) with 297 seats and Comfort (2 AC) with 44 seats. Standard vegetarian menu is also to be followed for all the classes during the entire journey. Apart from these services, the train will have professional tour escorts, housekeeping staff, unarmed security, surveillance camera, PA system and travel insurance. The tour package includes the cost of the journey, Rs 20,060 per person for Economy, Rs, 31,800 per person for Standard, and Rs 41,600 per person for Comfort categories. For enabling ease of payment, options of EMIs would also be available to passengers. The national carrier is also providing approximately 33 per cent concessions for promotion of Rail Tourism under Bharat Gaurav Train Scheme.

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Notably, apart from Hindu pilgrim spots, IRCTC will survey sites and use the rake for Sufi, Buddhists and other religious tourism. For non-religious tourist spots will also be considered for package tours for places like Kerala, Goa or northeast region.

Meanwhile, 270 stations of the Eastern Railway are to have healthcare focused multiutility stores or wellness centres, including pharmacy, diagnostic centres for blood and other tests and telemedicine for passengers. “To address situations of emergency, ambulances are to be provided at 16 stations and doctors would also be available. The initiative would be a part of railways’ non-fare revenue and would be done on a PPP model. The railways would earn Rs 3.25 crore from this project annually for the next five years. The medical facilities would be available for the rail users as well as the residents living nearby the stations,” informed the general manager of the ER, Arun Arora.

With this initiative, the railway aims to strengthen its disaster management system.