Union Minister for Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw, took to Twitter on Sunday to share the first glimpses of the ‘Shri Ramayan Yatra,’ a rail circuit specifically designed to promote religious tourism in places associated with the Ramayana.

As per the minister, the journey commenced with 100% occupancy on Sunday. “Overwhelming response! The first tour of ‘Shri Ramayana Yatra’ with 100% occupancy started today. Next tour on the Ramayana circuit is on 12th Dec 2021. जय जय श्री राम,” Tweeted Vaishnaw.

The deluxe AC tourist train departed from Delhi Safdarjung Railway Station on November 07 for 16 nights and 17 days with as many as 132 tourists on board.

‘Dekho Apna Desh’

The Shri Ramayan Yatra rail circuit has been launched under the “Dekho Apna Desh” initiative by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to encourage and facilitate religious tourism.

While the Ramayan Yatra is the first, the IRCTC has planned for other trains with different packages under Shri Ramayana Yatra Tours which is said to be launched soon. 

Yatra details

The rail circuit is set to cover every destination that has Shri Ram’s footprints including Ayodhya, Nandigram, Janakpur, Sitamarhi, Kashi, Prayag, Shringverpur, Chitrakoot, Nashik, Hampi and Rameshwaram.

The journey will commence with Shri Ram’s birthplace Ayodhya where tourists will visit Shri Ram Janmbhumi temple and Hanuman temple followed by Bharat Mandir at Nandigram, the place from where King Bharat ruled Ayodhya when Shri Ram was in Vanvaas. 

The next destination of the Ramayan Yatra will be Sitamarhi in Bihar where the pilgrims will be taken to Maa Sita’s birthplace and Ram-Janki Temple in Janakpur, which will be covered by road.

Following this, the train will proceed towards Varanasi where the tourists will get to visit the temples of Varanasi, Prayag, Shringverpur and Chitrakoot by road. 

As per the schedule, the night halt will be at Varanasi, Prayag and Chitrakoot. The yatra will then move to Nasik (Trayambakeshwar temple) in Maharashtra followed by a visit to Panchvati. 

Before reaching the last destination of Rameshwaram, the yatra will halt in the ancient city also known as the birthplace of Hanuman- Kishkinda in Hampi. The passengers will be covering a distance of roughly 7500kms in the entire journey. 

‘Shri Ramayan Yatra’ coach. Image Source: Twitter

As per a report, the yatra has boarding and de-boarding points at Abohar- Malout, Bhatinda, Barnala, Patiala, Rajpura, Ambala Cantt., Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panipat, Delhi Cantt, Gurgaon, Rewari, Alwar, Jaipur, Agra Fort, Itawah and Kanpur.

Reportedly, the Ramayan Yatra is the brainchild of IRCTC’s senior official Achyut Singh, who is also the in-charge of this special train.

The train has two categories- 2AC and 1AC for which passengers have paid Rs 83,000 and Rs 1.02 lakh respectively. 

While speaking with India Today, Singh informed that the package takes care of complete facilities for the passengers. This includes AC travel, local AC travel arrangements, hotels, and vegetarian meals for passengers.

To ensure safety, the passengers have also been provided with separate lockers with CCTVs installed in the train for security. Additionally, the train has two separate coaches for dining.

Dining coach in ‘Shri Ramayan Yatra’. Image Source: India Today

As per IRCTC, the next tour on the Ramayan circuit will be flagged off on December 12 with similar duration and packages.

After the ‘Shri Ramayan Yatra,’ the IRCTC is also planning to launch a special Rampath Yatra Train scheduled to commence on November 27.