PM flags off Kashi Mahakal Express connecting three Jyotirlingas
New Delhi, Feb 16 (HS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday flagged off the ‘Kashi Mahakal Express’ connecting three Jyotirlingas, from his parliamentary constituency Varanasi, via video link. This train will run three days a week. The regular train service for passengers will start on February 20.
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCT) has been given the responsibility of operating Kashi Mahakal. The third private train of the country which used Hamsafar rakes, will connect three Jyotirlingas between Indore and Varanasi, including Omkareshwar (Indore), Mahakaleshwar (Ujjain) and Kashi Vishwanath (Varanasi).
IRCT has brought tour packages to various religious, cultural and tourist places like Kashi, Ayodhya, Prayag, Sanchi, Bhopal, Omkareshwar, Bhimbetka and Indore. These packages can be booked online through the IRCTC website and mobile app and can also be purchased on the train during the journey.
IRCTC Director (Tourism and Marketing) Rajni Hasija said that the train will be made popular like Intercity. Travellers can also use this train from Banaras to Allahabad and Kanpur. Their fare has also been fixed according to normal trains which will be between ₹ 330 to ₹ 400. She told that the fare from Banaras to Indore will be ₹ 1991 which included food and drinks.
Due to dynamic fare system, 10 percent fare will be increased after booking of 70 percent tickets and then 10 percent fare will be increased after booking 90 percent tickets.
Hasija said that IRCTC was making efforts to provide online slips for Kashi Vishwanath Darshan. Negotiations were going on with the Shrine Board for this, she added.
The Train has been fitted with state of the art facility. As the people will also have to travel at night (overnight journey), so a rack of Humsafar has been used in it. It is fully air conditioned and equipped with all the state of the art facilities including CCTV cameras. It is the first private train in the country for an overnight journey.
It is noteworthy that IRCT has already started operating two private Tejas trains between Lucknow-Delhi and Mumbai-Ahmedabad. In this sense, it is the third private train in the country. This express train will run between 82403/82404 Varanasi-Indore-Varanasi (Via Sultanpur-Lucknow-Kanpur Central) two days a week and 82401/82402 Varanasi-Indore-Varanasi (Via Janghai – Allahabad-Kanpur Central) once a week.
The 82401 Varanasi-Indore Express, running two days a week, will depart from Varanasi at 02.45 pm on every Tuesday and Thursday from February 20 and reach Indore at 09.40 am the next day.
During its return, the regular service of 82402 will start from Indore from February 21. The train will run from Indore at 10.55 am every Wednesdays and Fridays.
This train with AC 3 tier coaches will have its stopages at Sultanpur, Lucknow, Kanpur Central, Jhansi, Bina, Sant Hirdaram Nagar and Ujjain stations in both directions.
Hindusthan Samachar/Manish