Beijing: Indian Railways will launch a
special train next month to cover various Sikh shrines in the
country to cash in on the success of luxury trains on the
religious routes catering to overseas tourists.
The 'Takht Express' would be launched on December 23 from
Chandigarh. It would cover six sacred destinations for Sikhs,
including Amritsar in nine days, Rakesh Tandon, Managing
Director of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism
Corporation (IRCTC) said here.
Tandon was speaking at a get-together organised for
Chinese travel agents, media and officials of Buddhist shrines
here yesterday to popularise 'Mahaparinirvan Express' being
run on the Buddhist circuit in India and Nepal.
He said the train covering Sikh shrines was being
launched following the high demand for such trains in
religious routes.
The IRCTC along with the Indian Embassy and India Tourism
department, Beijing, organised the event to highlight the
popularity of the Mahaparinirvan Express among the Buddhist
all over the world as it covered most important places sacred
to Buddhism.
Starting from Safdarjung railway station in New Delhi the
Mahaparinirvan Express covers Budhgaya, Nalanda, Rajgir,
Varanasi, Sarnath, Lumbini, Sravasti, Kushinagar and Agra.
The event was organised to mainly popularise the train
in China which has a large number of Buddhist population.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, November 22, 2011, 14:54