GUWAHATI, Aug 13 - In view of the growing demand among the public for special tourist trains from this region, Maligaon-headquartered Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has decided to run two trips of �Bharat Darshan� trains from Guwahati.
NFR officials said the first trip will start from Guwahati on October 28 and cover tourist and religious destinations of Kolkata, Puri and Bhubaneswar.
Places like the Belur Math, the Dakhineshwar Temple and Kalighat would be part of the itinerary in Kolkata.
Jagannath Darshan in Puri, and visits to the Konark Temple, the Lingaraj Temple and the Chandrabhaga beach will also form part of the trip.
The duration of the trip will be of six nights and seven days.
�The places to be covered during the trip are rich in religious heritage. During the trip, the train journey will be on a special tourist train, which will comprise sleeper coaches exclusively for the tourists. Visits to the local places will be done by non-AC tourist coaches or buses and wherever accommodation is provided, it would be provided in dharamshalas and dormitories. All meals comprising breakfast, lunch, evening tea and dinner will be included in the trip,� said an official.
He added that all the passengers would be provided packaged drinking water bottles during the entire trip.
�For the six-night, seven-day trip, the rate has been fixed at Rs 6,300 per person. The rate has been kept nominal to help people of this region avail the benefit,� said the official.
In addition, another special trip has been planned by the NF Railway during the second half of November. It will cover destinations in South India, including Vizag, Tirupati, Kanyakumari, Rameshwaram, Madurai, as well as Puri in Odisha.
�Tourist destinations in the South are very high on demand from this region. But, owing to distance and confirmed reservation issues, tourists from this region face difficulties in visiting those places. The cost of the trip will be Rs 13,500 per person and it will be a 14-night, 15-day trip,� said the official.
The running of the special tourist trains has been entrusted to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC). The two trips planned for October and November will be operated by the Regional Office, Guwahati, of IRCTC.
�The trips have been planned in the months of October and November keeping in view the weather conditions. Travellers will not face issues arising out of hot and humid climate during that period and so the journey is expected to be comfortable then. Tickets for the trips can be booked at the Regional Office of IRCTC here. These tickets will not be available at the reservation counters,� said the official.
