The Bharat Gaurav Deluxe AC tourist train taking travelers on a specially designed "North East Discovery: Beyond Guwahati" was flagged off from here on Friday for its onward journey to Naharlagun in Arunachal Pradesh. The train, a specially designed tour to cover the Northeastern states of India, had arrived here on Thursday as its first destination after it began its journey from Delhi's Safdarjung station on March 21. The train was virtually flagged off by Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu and Union Minister of State for Railways, Coal and Mines, Rao Saheb Patil Danve, an official release said on Saturday.
NF Railway General Manager Anshul Gupta and other senior railway officials were present at the Guwahati railway station during the flagging-off ceremony. The tourists during their first halt here visited the Kamakhya Temple followed by Umananda Temple and a sunset cruise on the Brahmaputra. Besides Guwahati, the train will cover during its 15-day tour Sivasagar, Furkating, and Kaziranga in Assam, Unakoti, Agartala, and Udaipur in Tripura, Dimapur and Kohima in Nagaland and Shillong and Cherrapunji in Meghalaya.
Bharat Gaurav is the first such tourism special train for the north-eastern states and it is in line with the Government of India's initiative "Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat" and "Dekho Apna Desh"' to promote domestic tourism, the release added.
