Indian Railways has decided to run its Bharat Gaurav Deluxe AC Tourist train into the North East. The specially designed tour “North East Discovery: Beyond Guwahati”, will cover the Northeastern states including Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya.
The tour will start from Delhi’s Safdarjung railway station on March 21, 2023, and will cover Guwahati, Sivasagar, Jorhat, and Kaziranga in Assam, Unakoti, Agartala, and Udaipur in Tripura, Dimapur, and Kohima in Nagaland and Shillong and Cherapunji in Meghalaya in 15 days.
According to the Railways, the first stop will be Guwahati where tourists will visit Kamakhya Temple followed by Umananda Temple and a sunset cruise on the Brahmaputra.
The train will further depart on an overnight journey for Naharlagun Railway Station while moving to the next destination Itanagar. The next city to follow will be Sivasagar where the tourists will be taken to the famous Shiva temple Sivadol besides other heritage sites.
Till date, 16 Bharat Gaurav circuits have been established. ‘Garvi Gujarat’ Yatra launched yesterday is the 17th circuit in line that aims at showcasing the heritage of the state. 10 more are in offing. The IRCTC operated train departed from Delhi Safdarjung Railway Station on February 28 for a eight days tour.
Further, the tea gardens at Jorhat and an overnight stay at Kaziranga followed by an early morning jungle safari at Kaziranga National Park will be included in the itinerary. The train will next depart for Tripura and will move on to Nagaland and Meghalaya. The Meghalaya leg will start with an excursion to Cherrapunji.
Shillong Peak, Elephant Falls, Nawkhalikai falls and Mawsmai caves are a part of the day’s sightseeing. From Cherrapunji , the tourists travel back to Guwahati Station to board the train for the return train journey to Delhi.
Guests will be travelling roughly 5800 kms in this entire tour by train.
Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train initiative is in line with the Government of India vision of “Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat” and “Dekho Apna Desh” to promote domestic tourism.
In order to make these packages more attractive and affordable to a large population, IRCTC, the train operator, has tied up with Paytm and Razorpay payment gateways for providing EMI payment options.
