A 12-day pilgrimage tour to Ujjain, Omkareshwar, Shirdi, Dwarka, Somnath temple, the Statue of Unity and other destinations, complete with accommodation and food — the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is all set to introduce a new train with a pilgrimage package from Kolkata.
The Jyotirlinga Special tourist train, part of the Swadesh Darshan concept, will leave Kolkata on November 6 and cover several religious and historic places in eastern, central and western India before returning to Kolkata on Nov 17.
The ticket price, which includes food, hotel accommodation and train fare, has two segments — Rs 22,010 per head for sleeper class passengers and Rs 33,020 per person for AC III tier passengers.
"Once the passenger boards the train, the entire journey will be taken care of by IRCTC. The fare covers hotel and sightseeing expenses and logistics for the next 12 days,” said Zafar Azam, group general manager of IRCTC, Kolkata.A total of 1,000 passengers can be accommodated on the train and more than half the tickets have already been booked.The train will travel to Ujjain, Omkareshwar, Shirdi, Dwarka, Somnath temple and the Statue of Unity. Deluxe hotel accommodation has been planned for sleeper class guests while three-star hotels have been booked for passengers who travel by AC III tier. Only vegetarian food will be served on the train. However, tourists can buy food of their choice.Azam said tourism has huge potential in eastern India but it is not organised. “We are trying to take an organised approach and involve more and more people. There are several virgin and untapped places in eastern India and in future we would start several initiatives to popularize these places and hence the cost has been kept nominal,” he said.
