New Delhi, November 12: In a bid to retrace the epic journey of Lord Rama from Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh to Colombo in Sri Lanka, the Indian Railways has introduced a special tourist train on Ramayana circuit. The special train named as 'Shri Ramayana Express', was on Wednesday flagged off from Safdarjung railway station in Delhi with 800 passengers. The special train will take passengers to places associated with Hindu epic Ramayana. The train journey will start from New Delhi and travel from Ayodhya to Rameshwaram.

IRCTC offers to run 'Shri Ramayana Express' special Tourist train on Ramayana circuit covering all the prominent places related to the life of Lord Rama. A railway official said all the tickets for the Shri Ramayana Express were sold out within a week.

The Indian Railways stated that the train will cover all important destinations associated with the life of Lord Ram in 16 days all-inclusive tour package which is spread both in India as well as Sri Lanka. Indian Railways Ends Flexi Fare Scheme For Premium Trains. 

The Railways further informed that passengers opting for Sri Lanka leg of the Ramayana Yatra package can take a flight to Colombo from Chennai. In July, Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal had tweeted on Tuesday that the train will retrace the “epic journey of Lord Rama”. Indian Railways Introduces 'Library On Wheels' Service to Offer Passengers Free Books on Trains. 

Here's all you need to need to know:

  1. The 'Sri Ramayana Express' train will depart from Safdarjung Railway station New Delhi on November 14 and take 16 days to complete its journey.

  2. It will first stop in Ayodhya before making halts at Nandigram, Sitamarhi, Janakpur, Varanasi, Prayag, Shringaverpur, Chitrakoot, Hampi, Nasik and Rameshwaram.

  3. The passengers opting for Sri Lanka leg of the Ramayana Yatra package can take a flight to Colombo from Chennai.

  4. The train will have an overall capacity of 800 passengers. The total package will include travel, accommodation, food and sight-seeing arrangements also, tweeted Piyush Goyal.

Fares and Packages:

  1. The tickets of the Ramayana Express train are priced at only Rs. 15,120/- per person.  The Sri Lanka leg of the tour will be charged separately.

  2. Passengers opting for Sri Lanka leg of the Ramayana Yatra package can take a flight to Colombo from Chennai.

  3. Reports inform that IRCTC presently offers 5-night/6-day Sri Lanka tour package at a cost starting from Rs 47,600 per person.

  4. The tour package will cover destinations like Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Colombo and Negombo.

How to Book:

Passengers willing to take the tour can register and book their seats on Shri Ramayana Express online on IRCTC’s website www.irctctourism.com . The bookings of the train will also be made available by the 27 Tourist Facilitation Centres of IRCTC spread across the country. Reports inform that bookings will be open shortly on the IRCTC website.

In October, the Indian Railways had proposed that its strategically significant Bilaspur-Manali-Leh line along the Indo-China border, which will be the world's highest railway track, be declared a national project. Reports inform that the project will include 74 tunnels, 124 major bridges and 396 minor bridges, according to the first phase of the survey. Once finished the line will reduce the distance between Delhi to Leh from the present 40 hours to 20 hours.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 14, 2018 09:29 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).