24 Jul 2018 
With an aim to promote religious tourism, the Indian Railways is all set to begin a special tourist train connecting the major destinations related to the famous Hindu epic ‘Ramayana’. The tour will cover the famous places including Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Making its first stop at Ram’s birthplace Ayodhya, the train will cover major locations like Nandigram, Sitamarhi, Janakpur, Varanasi, Prayag, Chitrakoot, Shringaverpur, Nasik, Hampi and finally Rameshwaram.
Read More: India is Ready to Welcome First Engineless Train – Train 18
After visiting Rameshwaram, interested travelers will be able to book flight ticket from Chennai to Colombo, where they will be visiting Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Ramboda for a complete mythological experience.
Read More: Maharaja Express – The Leading Luxury Train of India
The all inclusive tour will include all meals and lodging along with wash and change facilities, all transfers, sight-seeing arrangements and dedicated tour manager, throughout the trip.
According to the Ministry, the Indian Rail Tourism and Catering Corp (IRCTC) will run this 800-seater train from Delhi Safdarjung railway station. The train will complete its journey till Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, in 16 days.
The railways will charge separately for India and Sri Lanka journey.
Read More: World’s Best Train Rides
The whole tour is being organized and managed by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and will cost Rs 15,120 per person. Bookings will be available at 27 tourist facilitation centers all around the country along with online bookings from IRCTC website.
“We see good revenue on this circuit,” Rajni Hasija, tourism director at IRCTC, told the newspaper. “Right now, the date of first train has been announced, and after seeing the response, we will decide whether to run the train once or twice in a year.”
Read More: Indian Railways to Launch a New Train to Boost Religious Tourism
Shri Ramayana Express will start from 14th November, 2018 from Delhi Safdarjung railway station.
As per the current update, the demand for this epic journey is going unexpectedly well and IRCTC is launching three similar trains from Rajkot, Jaipur, and Madurai to fulfill them.
As per the reports, the Madurai train will start on November 14 whereas, the train from Jaipur will start its journey on 22 November to arrive in Delhi and pick up passengers from Alwar and Rewari before actually commencing the Ramayan tour and the train from Rajkot will begin on 7 December and will have boarding points in Surendranagar, Viramgam, Sabarmati, Anand, Vadodara, Godhra, Dahod, and Meghnagar.
IRCTC is exploring the prospect of launching more trains as part of the Ramayana tour so as to give the travelers a perfect spiritual experience.
Read More: Deccan Odyssey – A Royal Journey with Luxury Train of Maharashtra
