Pilgrim tourism has always been a recession free segment and in a country like India where train travel is the most common option for the vast majority of people, it is not surprising that pilgrim trains are popular amongst the domestic and the NRI devotees. IRCTC is all set to further tap this segment and introduce a few more trains
Pilgrim or faith based tourism is one of the key segments of India’s tourism sector. This segment is not only popular among the domestic tourists but also has a demand in the international market, being particularly popular among the NRI population. To tap the potential of this segment, IRCTC runs a series of pilgrim special trains, which connect various religious sites of India.
Some of the circuits promoted by the IRCTC are; Sukhmangalam Yatra which starts from Bengaluru and covers places such as Bijapur, Solapur, Pandharpur, Aurangabad, Shirdi and Badami. One of the most popular circuits, the Dham Special, which is packaged along with Dakshin Darshan starts from Chandigarh and passes via Lucknow. This tour covers destinations like Ayodhya, Varanasi, Puri, Tirupati, Kanchipuram, Rameshwaram, Madurai, Kanyakumari, Aurangabad, Dwaraka and Ujjain.
Char Dham Special
Char Dham is set of four pilgrimage sites in India which are widely revered by Hindus. These four sites are believed to be highly sacred and should be visited during one’s lifetime. This circuit comprises of Badrinath, Dwarka, Puri and Rameswaram.
Speaking about the Char Dham Special tours, Devvarth Agarwal from Shri Shiv Shankar Tirth Yatra says, “We organise a lot of pilgrim special train journeys for our clients. But our most successful package is the special ‘Tirth Yatra’. This is a 32 days journey, where we cover almost the entire country along with temples in Nepal. This programme starts in New Delhi and covers three ‘Dhams’; namely Dwarkapuri Dham, Rameshwaram Dham and Jagganath Puri Dham. Also, 11 Jyotilinga’s are covered during the journey along with Goa, Chitrakoot, Trivendrum. All our programmes are designed in such a way that we travel during the night and visit all the temples and local attractions during the day. We arrange for special coaches from IRCTC, which is exclusively only for our group. These coaches are attached to the trains. We also get NRI crowd for such type of tours. During such tours, we provide specially trained cook, guide, medical assistance, etc, for the group.”
Special circuits
Apart from Hindu circuits, there are also several other circuits like the Shree Shikhar Ji Yatra Jain circuit. This journey commences at Jaipur and covers important Jain destinations such as Rajgir, Pawapuri, Badagaon, Parasnath, Varanasi. The Takht Parikrama Special is one of its kind Sikh Circuit which covers a few of the Panj Takht, including Kiratpur Sahib, Anandpur Sahib, Gwalior, Nanded (Hazur Sahib), Bidar and Patna sahib
There is also a special package for the Shiva devotees, the Jyotirlinga Circuit. This circuit includes important destinations like Mahakaleshwar, Omkareshwar, Nageshwar, Somnath, Grishneshwar, Trimbakeshwar.
Navagraha temples tour is another important tour down south. This tour takes the pilgrim through various sites like Melmarvathur, Vaitheeswarankoil, Thiruvenkadu, Thirunageswaram, Thingaloor and Rameshwaram. Besides the circuits, the new government has also proposed to introduce trains in Christian circuit, Muslim/Sufi circuit and also some other famous temple circuits across the country.