The second service of the theme-based Bharat Gaurav Train in Southern Railway was flagged off from Madurai to Varanasi on Saturday by Prahlad Joshi, Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Coal, and Mines through a video-conferencing from New Delhi. India’s first theme-based Bharat Gaurav train was flagged off from Coimbatore North to Sainagar Shirdi on June 14.

The 12-day Bharat Gaurav round trip from Madurai to Varanasi will run via Dindigul, Tiruchchirappalli, Villupuram, Chennai Egmore, Vijayawada, Samalkote, Puri, Jaipur, Howrah, Gaya to reach Varanasi and return to Madurai via Prayagraj Rambagh, Ballarshah, Warangal, and Vijayawada.

The train will run with a composition of four 3AC coaches, six sleeper class coaches, two pantry cars, and two SLRs, says a release.

Revenue

Travel Times (India) Private Limited, Chennai, paid a bank guarantee for ₹1 crore as Rake Registration Fee with age profile of 15 to 20 years. From operation of this Bharat Gaurav train, Southern Railway will get a total fixed revenue of ₹2.52 crores per annum, i.e., an annual Right to use charges of ₹32.76 lakhs (exl GST) and ₹55.08 lakh (exl GST) towards quarterly-fixed haulage charges. In addition, a variable haulage charge of ₹55.80 lakhs (excl GST). Similar variable charges will be collected for every trip, depending upon the itinerary, the release said.

The Bharat Gaurav scheme aims to leverage the core strengths of the professionals of the tourism sector to run theme-based trains to tap the vast tourist potential of India, the release said.

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