The Uttarakhand Tourism Department will now run a special tourist train bound for south India in collaboration with IRCTC from June 20.

The special train sanctioned by the Centre, named Kedar Badri Kartik (Murugan) Koil Yathirai, will have its first run with 165 passengers from Madurai in Tamil Nadu to Rishikesh.

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According to the schedule, the Uttarakhand-bound special tourist train will reach Rishikesh in three days on June 23 passing through Chennai, Vijayawada, Warangal, Nagpur, Bhopal, Jhansi, Gwalior, Agra, and a host of other cities.

All 165 passengers boarding the train have been given special tour packages for 12 days and nights. It includes visits to the newly found tourist place Kartik Swami Temple in Rudraprayag, Badrinath, and Kedarnath. The tour package includes complete lodging and boarding facilities for the tourists.

The Uttarakhand Tourism aims at attracting more pilgrims from the south, especially Chennai, to associate them with Kartik Swami Temple, a newly developed important tourist destination in Rudraprayag district. According to the belief lord Kartikeya, son of Shiva, came here with his parents and handed out his bones to the father and flesh to the mother. It’s said these bones are present in the temple. In north India, this is the lone temple of lord Kartikeya, known as the deity Murugan in South India.

The Uttarakhand Tourism Department has endeavoured to run special trains in association with the IRCTC from different parts of the country especially Western and South India. Two of the similar special trains named Manaskhand Express were started from Pune on March 22 and April 22 to bring in tourists from Maharashtra and other western Indian states to the Kumaon regions.

After Kedar Badri Kartik Koil Yathirai’s special train from Madurai, the state Tourism Department is planning to run its two other versions from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

This is a unique and first-of-its-kind move in the country to promote tourism in the state. This was possible only with the efforts of the Union government and the prime minister. The idea behind starting the train from Madurai to Rishikesh in the name of lord Kartik was to tell the people in Chennai and southern India how Uttarakhand and the Himalayas integrate with them.

This will also help the state Tourism Department to attract more tourists to the new tourist destinations in the state” said the state tourism minister Satpal Maharaj.

The train will have all its compartments 3AC. Only four berths have been booked in one compartment convenience of tourists. The walls of the compartments are painted with depicting the rich tradition, cultural, architectural, and spiritual heritage of Uttarakhand.