Railways to introduce Buddhist circuit train from Jan. 14

New Delhi, Nov 23 (UNI) Terming it as a major breakthrough, the Railways today said it would introduce a Buddhist Circuit train, starting from Chennai, from January 14 next year.

On its inaugural run, the train, while steaming out of Chennai station, would make a trip of major Buddhist places like Ajanta, Ellora, Sanchi, Sarnath and Gaya.

Announcing this at a press conference here, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation ltd (IRCTC) Managing Director P K Goyal said the train would be fully airconditioned.

''We have approached travel agents in Sri Lanka and some other Buddhist countries for selling this package,'' he said.

In addition, the IRCTC has finalised ten weekend tourism packages such as from Delhi to Vaishnodevi, from Bangalore to Goa and from Agra to Bhubaneswar.

More importantly, the popular 'Bharat Darshan Yatra' train, which makes two trips of 14 days each, will be increased to six more trains from January next year.

''Bharat Darshan Yatra trains, which are aimed at low-end passengers, are immensely popular and a passenger has to pay just Rs 500 per day for the 14-day trip, which is inclusive of boarding, lodging and sight-seeing,'' he said.

These trains are currently being run from Madurai, Chennai and Bangalore with destinations in north India.

''Our plans are to introduce similar trains connecting destinations like Delhi, Ahmedabad and Mumbai,'' he said.

On the availability of reservation tickets at petrol pumps, Mr Goyal said such a system would be ready by next month where tickets can be had on cash payment.

An agreement to this effect had already been firmed up with HPCL and OIL, he informed.

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