Indian Railways launched the theme-based tourist circuit Bharat Gaurav Trains to promote tourism within the country.
Through this one-of-its-kind initiative, the Indian Railways is leveraging the strength of the private sector to run theme-based trains on select routes. Under this scheme, ‘Registered Service Providers are offered rakes under the “Right to Use” model by Indian Railways (IR) for operation of Bharat Gaurav Trains.
Southern Railways has the highest number of registrations with total of seven private parties who have registered under the Bharat Gaurav Trains Theme.
One of the routes identified under the scheme is from Coimbatore to Shirdi via Mantralayam.
The Coimbatore-Shirdi Bharat Gaurav Express is being operated by South Star Rail, a registered service provider.
The first train under the route will depart from Coimbatore North railway station on June 14, 2022 at 6 PM.
The train will stop at Tirupur, Erode, Salem, Jolarpettai, Yelahanka in Bengaluru, Dharmavaram, Mantralayam Road (5 hours halt), and Wardi. The train will reach Shirdi on Day 3 (June 16) at 07:25 AM.
The ticket cost per head is on par with regular train ticket rates normally charged by Indian Railways.
The price per head for a round-trip for different classes is as follows:
Tourists can opt for either the train-fare only option or the package. The package cost includes round-trip train fare, special darshan ticket, accomodation, a tour guide and travel insurance.
According to South Star, passengers of AC compartments will be provided with a take-away bedding kit. Coaches have been fitted with speakers to play devotional songs and spiritual discourses. The company has also said that over 350 tickets have been given to Sai Baba devotees for free.
Tickets are being provided offline at various locations in Coimbaotre, Erode and Tiruppur. As of now, there are no online ticketing options available.
That being the case, Su. Venkatesan, the Communist MP from Madurai has peddled misinformation stating that privatization of railways is leading the ticket fares to go up.
In his statement, he said that the journey between Coimbatore to Shirdi is around 1458 kilometres for which the sleeper class rate is ₹1280, and the fares for 3 AC, 2 AC and 1 AC are respectively ₹2360, ₹4820 and ₹8190 while adding that the cost charged by the private company is ₹2500, ₹5000, ₹7000 and ₹10,000 respectively.
It is to be noted that there are no direct trains from Coimbatore to Shirdi currently. People from Coimbatore have to go to Bengaluru and then take a different train to Shirdi. The layover at Bengaluru could range anywhere between 1 hour to a 1 day.
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