SONPUR JN

IRCTC & NF Railway will operate its first Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train from Dibrugarh o­n 27^th May, 2023 for popular religious tourist circuit, covering Shree Mata Vaishnodevi, Ayodhya, Prayagraj and Varanasi. Passengers can board and de- board in stations at Dibrugarh, Simaluguri, Mariani, Dimapur, Lumding, Guwahati, Rangiya, New Bongaigaon, New Coochbehar, New Jalpaiguri, Katihar, Barauni Jn, Hajipur and Sonpur. The train comprises of 08 LHB Sleeper Coaches and 03 AC 3-Tier coaches with a pantry car.

Spanning over 10 nights and 11 days, the first stop of this train will be at Katra where tourists will visit Mata Vaishnodevi Temple. This train will further depart for Ayodhya where tourist will visit Ram Janma Bhoomi, Hanumangarhi followed by Aarati at Sarayu River. The next destination to follow is Prayagraj where tourist will visit the sacred place Triveni Sangam and Alopi Devi Temple. The next halt for the tourist train will be at Varanasi where tourist will visit Ganga Aarti and Kashi Vishwanath Temple besides other pilgrimage places.

The tourist will be provided with meals o­nboard and packaged drinking water during the train journey. Meal comprises of early morning tea, breakfast, lunch with evening tea and dinner. Cleanliness of the coaches and hygiene in the toilets will be taken care by dedicated o­n-board housekeeping staffs. Unarmed security guards will also be deployed in every coach to ensure that the passenger belongings are kept safe and no unauthorized passenger board the special tourist train. Every coach will also have dedicated escorts to cater to every need of the passengers.

Dedicated coaches/buses will be provided to the tourists for off-board transfers and sightseeing. The tourists will be escorted by dedicated tour escorts through-out the trip. For Sleeper Class, non- AC Family hotel rooms will be provided at the places of night stay and AC accommodation will be arranged in standard category hotels for AC Passengers.

The entire trip will cost per person approximately Rs. 20,850/- and Rs. 31,135/- inclusive of GST for Sleeper Class and AC 3-Tier respectively. All necessary health precautionary measures will be taken care of and IRCTC will make efforts to provide a safe and memorable experience to the guests.

Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train launch is in line with the Government of India initiative “Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat” and “Dekho Apna Desh” to promote domestic tourism. Indian Railways is providing approximately 33% concession for promotion of rail tourism under Bharat Gaurav Train scheme. In order to make this package more attractive and affordable, bookings made directly through IRCTC website can avail the facility of EMI through Paytm, Razor Pay (credit facility of 3-18 months through debit card & 3-24 months through credit card) & Bajaj Finance (credit facility of 3 months & 5 months o­nly).

For tour booking tourist can visit IRCTC website: https://www.irctctourism.com. For further query tourist can contact helpline no. 8595936696/8638507592 or visit IRCTC office at 4D Mandovi Apartment, GNB Road, Ambari, Opp Rabindra Bhawan, Guwahati-781001.

The Northeast Frontier Railway has decided to operate o­ne weekly special train between Guwahati and Ranchi for 7 trips in both directions w.e.f. 04^thMarch, 2023 up to 16^th April, 2023. In view of Pre- Non Interlocking and Non- Interlocking works at Khagaria station of Sonpur division in East Central Railway for opening of new single line between Khagaria-Alauli section, few trains will be cancelled and rescheduled.

Running of special train: Train No. 05671/05672 Guwahati – Ranchi – Guwahati weekly special (via Goalpara Town) will run for 7 trips. Train No. 05671 Guwahati – Ranchi weekly special will depart from Guwahati o­n every Saturday at 11:40 hrs. to arrive Ranchi o­n next day at 14:25 hrs. The train will run from 4^th March to 15^thApril, 2023. Train No. 05672 Ranchi – Guwahati weekly special will depart from Ranchi o­n every Sunday at 20:30 hrs. to arrive Guwahati o­n next day at 23:45 hrs. The train will run from 5^th March to 16^th April, 2023.

The special train will consist of 20 coaches. There will be AC 2-tier, AC 3-tier, Sleeper Class and General Second Class for accommodation of passengers. Wait listed passengers of other trains in this route can avail this opportunity.

Cancellation of train services: Train No. 03316/03315, 05263/05264 Samastipur – Katihar – Samastipur MEMU and 05249/05250 Katihar – Barauni Jn – Katihar MEMU commencing journey o­n 04^th and 05^th March, 2023 will remain cancelled.

Rescheduling of trains: Train No. 15909 (Dibrugarh – Lalgarh) Avadh Assam express, commencing journey o­n 04^th March, 2023 will be rescheduled at 11:50 hrs. instead of 10:20 hrs. at Dibrugarh. Train No. 04653 (New Jalpaiguri – Amritsar) express, commencing journey o­n 03^rd March, 2023 will be rescheduled at 09:10 hrs. instead of 07:00 hrs. at New Jalpaiguri.