A  public sector undertaking, under the Ministry of Railways, is going to run its Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train on a very special tour, Shri Jagannath Yatra, in line with the government of India initiative ”Dekho Apna Desh” to promote domestic tourism.

The Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train will be covering some of the prominent pilgrimage and heritage destinations of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa States.

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The train is all set to embark on its eight-day tour wherein the one among the Char Dham of India i.e. the Jagannath temple of Puri, will be visited by the pilgrims. Besides, the visit to Varanasi, Baijnath Dham and Gaya will be an added attraction of the tour.

Coupled with a state-of-the-art AC rake, the tourist train will start from Delhi’s Safdarjung railway station on 25 January, 2023 and return on 1 February, 2023. The tourists will also have an option to board/de-board the train at Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Tundla, Etawah, Kanpur and Lucknow stations during the tour.

The seven nights/eight days IRCTC Bharat Gaurav Tourist tour has its first stop at Varanasi, the ancient holy city where tourists will visit Kashi Vishwanath jyotirlinga temple and corridor along with the Ganga ghat and aarti. After Varanasi, the train will move to Jashidih railway station in Jharkhand and tourists will proceed to visit Baidyanath Dham Jyotirling temple.

Further the train will depart from Jashidih to Puri where a stay of two nights will be arranged for tourists in the hotels. While at Puri, the tourists will visit Jagannath temple, Golden Puri beach, Sun temple at Konark and the temples of Bhubneshwar. After Puri, Gaya will be the last destination where the visit to Vishnupad temple will be covered in the tour. The train will return back to Delhi on the eighth day of its journey on 1st Feb 2023.

The fully air-conditioned tourist train will comprise eleven 3rd AC coaches, one pantry car and two SLR’s. Freshly cooked vegetarian meals will be served on board to the guests in their respective seats from the well-equipped modern pantry car. The train has also been fitted with an infotainment system for the entertainment of the passengers as well as for public announcements. From clean toilets to enhanced security features of CCTV Cameras and Security Guards for each coach have also been provided for the tourists.

Indian Railways is providing approximately 33 per cent concession for the promotion of rail tourism under the Bharat Gaurav Train Scheme. Packages offered are at an economical rate starting from Rs. 17655/- per person. The IRCTC tourist train will be an all-inclusive tour package covering the train journey in 3rd AC,  Night stays at AC hotels, All meals (VEG ONLY), all transfers and sightseeing in buses, Travel Insurance and services of a guide etc. All necessary health precautionary measures will be taken care of and IRCTC will make efforts to provide a safe and memorable experience to the guests.

In order to make this package more attractive and affordable to a large population, IRCTC has tied up with Paytm and Razorpay payment gateways for providing EMI payment options for breaking the total payment into small amounts EMIs. Users can avail of the EMI payment option for making payments in 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 or 24-month EMIs. These EMI payment options can be made through Debit/Credit Cards.