Bharat Gaurav Scheme: India's first private train from Coimbatore departs for Shirdi

Coimbatore, June 15: The first train under Bharat Gaurav Scheme of Indian Railways was flagged off with its first service from Coimbatore North railway station in Tamil Nadu to Shirdi in Maharashtra. The train will reach Shirdi on Thursday and return to Coimbatore on Saturday.

The service is provided by South Star Rail ant private player will also provide veg meals, snacks, devotional magazines, bedtime kit and an in-house doctor support on the train.

Ministry of Railways said in a tweet, "Promoting India's rich cultural heritage! Southern Railway becomes the first zone to get its first Registered service provider under the ‘Bharat Gaurav’ Scheme & commence operations of the maiden service from Coimbatore North to Sainagar Shirdi, today."

Ministry of Railways said that Bharat Gaurav Train is operated to show India's rich cultural heritage and magnificent historical places to the people. On its way, the train will stop at Tirupur, Erode, Salem, Yelahanka, Dharmavaram, Mantralayam and Wadi. During the return journey, the train will stop at Wadi, Dharmavaram, Yelahanka, Salem, Erode and Tirupur.

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The train will also stop at Mantralayam road station for five hours in order to help with the darshan at Mantralayam temple in Andhra Pradesh.

As per Bharat Gaurav scheme announced by the Centre in November, any operator or service provider can lease trains for 2 years from Indian Railways to operate theme-based trains for special tourism packages.

The operator is also free to decide on the routes, the halt points and the tariff for the service.