Bengaluru, Jan 29 (IANS) Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu Thursday flagged off a premium train here connecting India's tech hub to Katra town, 13km from Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir.
Though Prabhu's predecessor D.V. Sadananda Gowda announced the weekly express in this fiscal (2014-15) railway budget in July last year, pressure from devotees of the Hindu goddess Durga made the mandarins hurry up with the new train which will cover 3,246km in 56 hours and 40 minutes.
"We had to work out the logistics and schedule for the special inaugural train in the busy time table, connecting south and north, which makes the trip longest from here to north India," a South Western Railway (SWR) official told IANS on the occasion.
Though Prabhu also flagged off three other weekly premium trains to Kamakhya in Assam, Patna in Bihar and Tatanagar in Jharkhand, the superfast pilgrim train (# 22679/22680) to Katra will run every Saturday at 11:30am from Feb 7 and will depart from Yesvantpur junction in the city's northern suburb.
"It's a great relief for us, especially senior citizens, to have a direct train to Katra on the foothills of the Mata Devi shrine. Though the travel is tedious and over two days, we don't have to alight in Delhi or board another train en-route or bus from Jammu for the pilgrimage," S. Gopalacharya, 64, a retired lecturer, told IANS.
With 19 coaches and a pantry car, the train to Katra atop Tirkuta Hills at 5,300 feet in the Jammu region, will have 10 halts, chugging through seven-eight states enroute.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Katra station July 14 last year for regular traffic, connecting it to the national rail network via Jammu station, 50km away from it in the mountain region.
The three other express trains which will run under the premium service will connect the city directly with the eastern and northeastern regions for thousands of people, especially college students from Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Assam with dynamic fares.
The Bengaluru-Patna train (#22353/22354) will run every Sunday from Cantonment station in the city centre at 3:30pm, while the Bengaluru-Kamakhya express (# 22503/22504) will start from Cantonment every Friday at 10:15am and the Bengaluru-Tatanagar train (#18111/18112) will depart from Yesvantpur every Sunday at 10am.
Prabhu also laid the foundation stone for a foot overbridge at the city's main station.
Union Ministers M. Venkaiah Naidu, Sadananda Gowda, Ananth Kumar, parliamentary and state assembly lawmakers and local body corporators from across the city were present on the occasion.
KRK said on Aryan Khan case- Bharti was left in 86 grams of drugs on the same day, this is a harassment
Shahrukh Khan's son Aryan's bail plea has been rejected by the NDPS court. He was detained by the NCB on October 2 and is now in jail. Different types of reactions are coming from people on this. KRK
Maharashtra minister's law on MP-UP's 'Love Jihad' law, said - we do not need to bring such schemes
On the law of Love Jihad by the Madhya Pradesh and UP governments, Maharashtra Minister Aslam Shaikh said that all these things will come only where the working style of governments has decreased. The
IPL 2023: Ben Stokes increased the difficulties of MS Dhoni, CSK will not like this decision of the English all-rounder
The stage is all set for IPL 2023. From March 31, an exciting brawl between 10 teams is about to begin. Four-time champions Chennai Super Kings have made a big deal in the auction this time and have
Himachal: Warning to the Himachal government, seven percent fine will be imposed if the money for central schemes is not spent on time
The central government has warned the Sukhu government of the state not to spend the money on the central schemes. This warning has been given in the case of funding centrally funded schemes. Prateek
Team India will play ODI and T20 series against West Indies, two matches will be played in America
Cricket West Indies (CWI) has confirmed that India will play a few T20 Internationals in the US. In a statement issued on Wednesday (June 1), CWI has confirmed that the Indian team is scheduled to
Scuffle between MPs: Pratap Sarangi and Mukesh Rajput were discharged from the hospital; and were injured on Parliament House premises.
BJP MPs Pratap Sarangi and Mukesh Rajput, who were injured in the scuffle between MPs in the Parliament House complex, have been discharged from the hospital. Actually, on December 19, both Congress
Akhilesh Yadav gives a blow to Mayawati and BJP, 7 rebel MLAs join SP
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has given a blow to BSP and BJP on Saturday. 6 rebel BSP MLAs reached Lucknow SP headquarters and one BJP MLA joined SP. Akhilesh Yadav got the party membership to all the
Ballon d'Or: Lionel Messi wins the best player award in world football for the seventh time
Paris Saint-Germain and Argentine forward Lionel Messi have won the Ballon d'Or, the title of footballer of the year, for the seventh time.
ODI WC: ICC-Broadcaster earn huge money through World Cup, country's economy can increase by Rs 20 thousand crores
This time the Cricket World Cup is creating records on every front. Be it the number of broadcast viewers the number of spectators present in the stadium or earning money from sponsors and TV
IPL 2024 Captains List: Who will win the title this time? Know the names of captains of all the teams participating in IPL 2024 here
Cricket fans are eagerly waiting for the date of 22 March 2024. The 17th season of IPL is going to start from this day. The craze of IPL is such that people forget their work and hide from the TV
