The Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is all set to offer Jagannath Yatra rail tour package under the Bharat Gaurav category trains from January 25.
The journey will begin on January 25 and end on February 1, 2023 and is named as Jagannath Yatra.
Union Railway Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, during his last visit to Odisha, had announced to run Jagannath Circuit Train.
The itinerary of this train includes visits to the prominent sacred temples while travelling through the pilgrimage cities of Varanasi, Puri, and Gaya. Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train will embark on a very special tour of Shri Jagannath Yatra which is 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 Odisha.
The train is all set to embark on its 8 day tour wherein the one among the Char Dham of India i.e. Jagannath temple of Puri will be visited by the pilgrims. Besides, the visit of Varanasi, Baijnath Dham and Gaya will be added attractions in the tour. Coupled with a modern state of the art AC rake, the tourist train will start from Delhi Safderjung Railway station on January 25, 2023 and return on February 1, 2023. Tourists will also have options to board/ de-board the train at Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Tundla, Etawah, Kanpur and Lucknow stations in the tour.
The 07 Nights/08Days IRCTC Bharat Gaurav Tourist train 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 Arti. After Varanasi, the train will move to Jashidih Railway station in Jharkhand and tourist will proceed to visit Baidyanath dham Jyotirling temple.
Further, the train will depart from Jashidih to Puri where stay for two nights will be arranged for tourists in the hotels. While at Puri, tourists will visit Jagannath temple, Golden Puri beach, Sun temple at Konark and temples of Bhubneswar. After Puri, Gaya will be the last destination where the visit of Vishnupad temple will be covered in the tour. Train will return back to Delhi on the 8th day of its journey on Feb 1, 2023.
This 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 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 approx 33% concession for promotion of Rail Tourism under Bharat Gaurav Train Scheme.
Packages offered are at an economical price range, starting from Rs. 17,655 per person.