On Friday, the Bharat Gaurav Deluxe AC tourist train was kicked off from here to continue on to Naharlagun in Arunachal Pradesh as part of a specifically devised “North East Discovery: Beyond Guwahati” itinerary.
The train, which had set out from Delhi’s Safdarjung station on March 21 on a tour specifically intended to reach the Northeastern states of India, arrived here on Thursday.
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu and Union Minister of State for Railways, Coal, and Mines Rao Saheb Patil Danve effectively flagged the train off, according to a statement issued on Saturday.
At the Guwahati train station for the flag-off ceremony were NF Railway General Manager Anshul Gupta and other top railroad officials.
The first stop for the tourists was at the Kamakhya Temple, then they went to the Umananda Temple and had a sunset cruise on the Brahmaputra.
Along with Guwahati, the train will stop at Sivasagar, Furkating, and Kaziranga in Assam, Unakoti, Agartala, and Udaipur in Tripura, Dimapur and Kohima in Nagaland, and Shillong and Cherrapunji in Meghalaya during its 15-day journey.
The government of India’s initiatives “Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat” and “Dekho Apna Desh” to boost domestic tourism are in line with Bharat Gaurav, which is the first such tourism special train for the north-eastern states.
