Varanasi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday flagged off Kashi Mahakal Express, country’s third train operated by Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) between his parliamentary constituency Varanasi and Indore.
Kashi Mahakal Express was inaugurated by the Prime Minister via video conferencing from here and it will start its commercial run from February 20, according to Railways Ministry.
The new Kashi Mahakal Express will connect three places - Jyotirlinga-Omkareshwar (near Indore in Madhya Pradesh), Mahakaleshwar (Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh) and Kashi Vishwanath (Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh).
Earlier, IRCTC has successfully launched two Tejas Express trains between New Delhi-Lucknow and Mumbai-Ahmedabad.
The train will operate thrice a week between Varanasi and Indore via Ujjain, Sant Hiradnagar (Bhopal), Bina, Jhansi, Kanpur, Lucknow/Prayagraj and Sultanpur.
The Kashi Mahakal Express is the third corporate passenger train being operated by IRCTC, taking forward the initiative of the ministry to operate more such corporate trains in the country.
Keeping in mind the overnight journey, the IRCTC has geared up to provide a host of facilities and services to passengers on-board, including high quality vegetarian food, on-board bedrolls and housekeeping services, as well as on-board security services.
Besides, every passenger travelling in the train will be covered with a complimentary travel insurance of Rs 10 lakh during the journey, the IRCTC said.
The train will have an advance reservation period of 120 days and general and foreign tourist quotas.
“The current booking will be available to the passengers on the platform itself after preparation of the first chart, 4 hours to 5 minutes before the scheduled departure of the train,” it said.
Keeping in mind the religious sentiments of travelling passengers, the IRCTC is also offering them, with a value addition, travel to various religious places and tourism sites covered by Kashi Mahakal Express.
The IRCTC has prepared tour packages of cities and religious sites covered by the train route such as Kashi, Omkareshwar, Mahakaleshwar, Bhopal, Sanchi, Ujjain, Bhimbetka, Ayodhya and Prayag. (UNI)
