The Indian Railways will launch the Bharat Gaurav Deluxe train to the North East on the 21st of this month and will cover five NE states in 15 days. The five NE states are Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya.

According to the official statement from the Ministry of Railways, the theme based tourist circuit trains’ theme for the North East circuit is “North East Discovery: Beyond Guwahati” and the train is set to depart from the New Delhi Safrdurjung Railway Station on March 21, 2023 on a 14 nights/15 days itinerary.

This state of the art Deluxe AC Tourist Train can accommodate a total of 156 tourists, and are air-conditioned with AC 1 and AC 2 tiers and is installed with amazing features including two fine dining restaurants, a contemporary kitchen, shower cubicles in coaches, sensor based washroom functions, foot massager and a mini library.

The first stop of this train in Northeast India is Guwahati where tourists will visit Kamakhya Temple and Umananda Temple and a sunset cruise on the Brahmaputra.

Then it will further depart on an overnight journey for Naharlagun Railway Station which is 30 kms from the next destination Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh.

The next city to follow will be Sivasagar - the old capital of the Ahom Kingdom in the Eastern part of Assam. The famous Shiva temple at Sivasagar, Sivadol is a part of the itinerary besides other heritage sites.

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 experienced by the tourists.

The Deluxe AC Tourist Train next departs from the Furkating Railway Station for the state of Tripura where the sightseeing of famous heritage site of Unakoti and of Agartala including the famous Ujjayanta Palace. On the next day, the Neermahal palace and Tripura Sundari mandir at Udaipur will be covered in the itinerary.

Post Tripura, the train departs to Dimapur for visiting the state of Nagaland. The scenic train journey between Badarpur station to Lumding Jn can be witnessed by the guests in the early hours of the morning from their seats. From Dimapur station tourists shall be taken to Kohima by buses for visiting the local sites including a tour of the Khonoma village to experience the Naga way of life.

The next halt for the tourist train will be Guwahati and tourist will be taken to Shillong, the capital city of Meghalaya by road with a pit stop at the majestic Umium Lake enroute. The next day starts with an excursion to Cherrapunji nestled in the East Khasi Hills. 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.

The entire journey will be of roughly 5800 Kms and people can board and de-board from Delhi, Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Tundla, Itawah, Kanpur, Lucknow and Varanasi.

The ticket price range starts from 1,06,990 per person rupees in AC 2 Tier, 1,31,990 rupees per person for AC 1 cabins, and 1,49,290 rupees per Person for AC 1 coupe. The ticket is inclusive of train journeys, hotel stays, all vegetarian meals, transfer costs and sightseeing in respective cities, and travel insurance, among other costs. In order to attract more tourists and avail them with a hassle free payment option,  IRCTC has partnered up with PayTm and Razorpay payment gateways by which one can also avail of an EMI payment option for the trip.

The Indian Railways launched the Bharat Gaurav scheme back in 2021 and it is in line with the Government of India initiative “Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat” and “Dekho Apna Desh” to promote domestic tourism and also international tourism by show casing India’s rich cultural heritage and historical places.

For more details on booking, one can visit the IRCTC web portal.