Railways to launch special pilgrim services

Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda Tuesday proposed to boost domestic tourism with special pilgrim and ecotourism services and encourage private participation in the sector.

Also, the minister said, the Indian Railways is planning to take up eco-tourism and education tourism services in the northeastern States.

Presenting the railway budget 2014-15, he said specially packaged trains for pilgrim circuits like Devi Circuit, Jyotirling Circuit, Jain Circuit, Christian Circuit, Muslim /Sufi Circuit, Sikh Circuit, Buddhist Circuit, Famous Temple Circuit would be introduced.

According to the minister, some trains for pilgrims and tourists are intended to be introduced in short run. He gave one such example of train service which will run from Gadag to Pandarpur via Bagalkot, Bijapur and Solapur covering the pilgrim places of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Other such proposed services are slated to start from Rameshwaram covering pilgrim and tourist places like Bengaluru, Chennai, Ayodhya, Varanasi and Haridwar.

Gowda said that he also planned to run a special train featuring life and work of Swami Vivekananda to inculcate good moral values.