Bhubaneswar: The Indian Railways is all set to launch the Sri Jagannath Yatra tourist train that will begin its maiden journey from Delhi on January 25.

This train will be launched under the Railways’ Bharat Gaurav initiative, sources said. The train will cover prominent heritage and pilgrimage destinations of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Jharkhand.

Apart from taking the visitors to the Jagannath Temple in Puri district of Odisha, the train will also travel to the holy city of Gaya, Varanasi and the Baidyanath Dham temple in Jharkhand. The Railways will offer approximately 33 per cent concession for the tour, sources said.

The train will start its journey from Safdarjung railway station in Delhi on January 25 and return on February 1. Tourists will also have options to board or de-board the train at Aligarh, Ghaziabad, Tundla, Kanpur, Etawah, and Lucknow stations.

The IRCTC Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train will be launched in line with the Centre’s Dekho Apna Desh initiative to boost domestic tourism. Packages offered for the tour are at an economical rate starting from Rs 17,655 per person, sources added.

It will be a 7N/8D tour that will make its first stoppage at Varanasi thereby enabling the tourists to visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple and the corridor connecting it with the ghats of River Ganga. The tourists can witness the Aarti on the banks of the great river, Railways sources said.

The tour will then proceed to Jharkhand and the tourists will have the opportunity to visit Baidyanath Dham temple. Soon after that, the train will travel to Puri, where a two-night stay will be arranged in hotels. The tourists will get the opportunity to visit the Golden Beach of Puri, Jagannath temple, the Sun temple at Konark and shrines in Bhubaneswar, they added.

Gaya will be the last destination of the tour and then the train will return to Delhi on the eighth day of its journey on February 1.

In order to make this package more attractive and affordable to a large population, the IRCTC has tied up with Paytm and Razorpay payment gateways for providing EMI payment option for breaking the total payment in small amount EMIs. Users can avail the EMI payment option for making payment in 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 or 24 month EMIs. These EMI payment options can be made through Debit/Credit cards.

For more details people can visit IRCTC website: https://www.irctctourism.com. Ticket booking is available online on the web portal on first come first serve basis. They can also contact on IRCTC Mobile no. 8287930749 and 8287930712 for more information on the tour.