20 Trains from (DER)DADRI to (SEE)SONPUR JN

Shri K. Raveen Kumar Reddy assumed charge as Principal Chief Commercial Manager (PCCM), South Central Railway today i.e., 05^thApril, 2023 at Rail Nilayam, Secunderabad. He belongs to Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) of 1988 batch. Prior to the present assignment he worked as Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Systems, South Central Railway.

During his tenure as CAO, Systems, he was instrumental in creating 100% Disaster Recovery (DR) tier III centre for all passenger, freight, rolling stock, coaching, track maintenance, Human Resource Management Systems, MIS & ERP systems o­n Indian Railways network with full redundancy and latest technology in co-ordination with Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS) and other agencies.

Earlier, he worked as Divisional Railway Manager, Kharagpur Division, South Eastern Railway. o­n South Central Railway, he has worked in various capacities earlier including Chief Commercial Manager (Passenger Services) and Chief Freight Transportation Manager. He has worked as Chief Commercial Manager, Passenger Services in Central Railway. Shri Raveen K. Reddy has also held several key posts o­n deputation in both Government of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States and has completed three decades of service.

During his stint as Divisional Railway Manager, Kharagpur Division where world’s biggest Distributed Electronic Interlocking of 800 routes at Kharagpur Junction during his tenure as well as World Class Station Complexes of Santragachi and Shalimar. While working as Director Fuel Management & Strategic Planning, he planned for Bhadradri and Yadadri 6000 MW Ultra Mega Power Plants clearances, EAC approvals, Railway sidings, as well as Thadicherla OCP 1 dedicated Coal Mine Approval and MDO commissioning. He was CFTM/SCR and achieved Railway Board Operating Shield for Highest Incremental loading of 116.8 million Tonnes in 2015.

Shri Raveen Kumar Reddy has varied experience as Policy maker and Administrator in the areas of Railway Operations and Infrastructure Planning, Energy and Power Generation, DistriParks & Free trade warehousing zones, Suburban Mass Rapid Transport, Shipping and Ports, Commerce and Export promotion. He underwent several academic and professional training programmes at India and Abroad

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.