Today's Cancelled Trains
Rail Budget 2014: Railways announce special trains on pilgrim circuits
NEW DELHI: Giving a boost to pilgrim tourism, the railway minister on Tuesday announced a series of trains across the country to provide affordable transport to important sites of religious and spiritual interest. The ministry plans to take up eco-tourism and education tourism in the Northeast.
In his speech, Sadananda Gowda said, "Special pilgrim circuits like Devi circuit, Jyotirling circuit, Jain circuit, Christian circuit, Muslim/Sufi circuit, Sikh circuit, Buddhist circuit, Famous Temple circuit have been identified. I propose to introduce specially-packaged trains for these circuits. Private participation in this area will be encouraged. I intend to introduce some trains for pilgrims and tourists in the short run."
He identified a tourist train that will run from Gadag to Pandarpur via Bagalkot, Bijapur and Solapur covering centres of pilgrimage and tourism in Karnataka and Maharashtra. Another will start from Rameshwaram covering key destinations like Bangalore, Chennai, Ayodhya, Varanasi and Haridwar. "I plan to run a special train featuring life and work of Swami Vivekananda to inculcate moral values and propagate the teachings of Swami Vivekananda,'' he said.
Tourism minister Sripad Naik said the tourism and culture ministries would coordinate to bring the projects to completion. About 1,145 million domestic tourists travelled within the country last year, up from 1,045 million in 2012.
Expedia Asia MD Vikram Malhi said it was encouraging to see renewed impetus for tourism, from the 100-day aviation policy to the new tourist trains. "The country witnesses high domestic tourist traffic across different states through the year.The announcement of special circuit trains will make the journey more convenient for pilgrims.''
Describing the budget as visionary, Thomas Cook MD Madhavan Menon said, "The pro-tourism focus via a strategic three-pronged combination of connectivity, safety and modernization has brought the spotlight back to Destination India. Connectivity to Kashmir, Meghalaya and Arunachal immediately puts them on the tourist radar as emerging opportunities.''
Source:Economic Times
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