The Indian Railways will now run trains to cover major religious places of Sikhs like that of Hindus. The Gurukripa train operated by IRCTC, the catering service of the Indian Railways, will leave from Lucknow on April 5. The train will take pilgrims to Gurudhams and Panj Takhts located in Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Bihar.
The train’s first stop will be Kesgarh Sahib. After this, it will proceed to Anandpur Sahib.
A senior Railway Board official said that the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is going to run the Guru Kripa Yatra (pilgrimage) tourist train under Gaurav Bharat which will cover five Takhts and major gurdwaras associated with Sikhism. Leaving from Lucknow on April 5, the train will take you to visit the gurudwaras of Sitapur, Pilibhit and Bareilly.
From Shri Kesgarh Sahib, the train will go to Anandpur Sahib. From there, via Shri Fatehgarh Sahib, it will go to Shri Akal Takht, Amritsar, Shri Damdama Sahib, Bathinda, Shri Hazur Sahib, Nanded-Maharashtra, Shri Guru Nanak Jhira Sahib, Bidar-Karnataka and Patna Sahib and will reach back to Lucknow on 15 April.
The journey will be of 10 nights and 11 days. The capacity of the Teerth Tourist train will be 678 pilgrims.
The Gurukripa train will have modern sleeper, AC-2 and AC-3 coaches. The fare for sleeper will be Rs 19,999 per passenger. AC-2 fare will be Rs 39,999 and AC-3 fare will be Rs 29,999.
The train fare includes accommodation for the pilgrims in a good hotel, food, breakfast, bus transportation to and from the station, etc. It may be noted here that in 2019, the Railways had run the Panch Takht Express for the religious places of Sikhs.