The Minister of Railways Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal has said that he proposes to run an educational tourist train called ‘Azadi Express’ to enable youth of the country to travel to important places connected with the freedom movement. He said, the train will be made attractive and affordable through concessional fares.

Presenting the Railway Budget for 2013-14 in Parliament today he said, to make the experience of tourists more pleasant, the following steps are envisaged:

i. Following popularity of Executive Lounge at New Delhi, setting up of such facility at seven more stations: Bilaspur, Visakhapatnam, Patna, Nagpur, Agra, Jaipur and Bengaluru;

ii. Launching a multi-modal travel package with cooperation of State Government of Jammu & Kashmir enabling passengers to travel from Jammu through Udhampur, Qazigund to Srinagar and Baramulla on a common rail-bus ticket;

iii. With the commissioning of railway line up to Katra very soon, feasibility of issuing ‘yatra parchis’ to pilgrims travelling by rail at the time of booking of the railway ticket is being explored in coordination with Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board.

MKP/AD/DB

(Release ID :92502)

Educational tourist train initiative with concessional fares to improve access and integrated pilgrim travel options. Proposal to run an educational tourist train, Azadi Express, offering concessional fares to enable youth visits to freedom-movement sites. Announced complementary measures include expanding Executive Lounge facilities to seven stations, launching a multi-modal travel package with Jammu & Kashmir enabling a unified rail-bus ticket on a specified corridor, and exploring issuance of yatra parchis for pilgrims to Katra at booking, coordinated with the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board and contingent on the commissioning of the rail line to Katra.