Feb 16, 2020
New Delhi: The Varanasi-Indore Kashi Mahakal Express flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at varanasi yesterday will begin its commercial run from February 20.
It is the first passenger train of its kind which promises to be a full service overnight journey train with high levels of on-board services complemented with exclusive optional tour packages for the passengers covering the religious, business as well as tourism sites of the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, says IRCTC.
Mahakal Express is the 3rd corporate train for the general public, in addition to two earlier corporate trains run by IRCTC namely Lucknow- New Delhi- Tejas and Ahmedabad-Mumbai Tejas.
It will be a superfast air-conditioned overnight journey train with berths.
The train will connect three Jyotirlinga – Omkareshwar (Near Indore), Mahakaleshwar (Ujjain) and Kashi Vishwanath (Varanasi) besides also connecting the industrial and educational hub of Indore and Bhopal the capital of Madhya Pradesh. The train will operate thrice a week between Varanasi and Indore via Ujjain, Sant Hiradnagar (Bhopal), Bina, Jhansi, Kanpur, Lucknow/Prayagraj and Sultanpur.
The IRCTC has provided a host of facilities and services to the passengers on-board including high quality vegetarian food, on-board bedrolls and housekeeping services and on-board security services. Besides, every passenger travelling in the train will be covered with a complimentary travel insurance of Rs. 10 lakhs during the journey.
On the lines of IRCTC Tejas Express, the train will be available exclusively available for booking on IRCTC website www.irctc.co.in and its mobile app ‘Irctc Rail Connect’. The passengers can also get their tickets booked through authorised agents and online travel partners of IRCTC. The train will have an advance reservation period of 120 days will have only general and foreign tourist quota. The current booking will be available to the passengers on the platform itself after preparation of first chart, 4 hours to 5 minutes before the scheduled departure of the train.
IRCTC is further facilitating the passengers by allowing automatic full refund of the train fare in case of cancellation of the train for both waitlisted as well as confirmed e-tickets.
To cater to the needs of pilgrims, IRCTC is making tour packages of cities and religious sites covered by the train such as Kashi, Omkareshwar, Mahakaleshwar, Bhopal, Sanchi, Ujjain, Bhimbetka, Ayodhya and Prayag.
Kashi Mahakal Express will depart from Varanasi at 2.45 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday to reach Indore at 9.40 a.m. on Wednesday and Friday.
Similarly, the train will start from Indore at 10.55 a.m. every Wednesday and Friday and will reach Varanasi next morning at 6 a.m.. This train will have stoppages at Ujjain, Sant Hirdaram Nagar, Bina, Jhansi, Kanpur and Sultanpur stations in both directions.
Meanwhile, Kashi Mahakal Express will be a weekly service via Prayagraj route.
–India News Stream