Now, a direct train to Katra for Vaishno Devi pilgrims

Just two and a half months after Katra got on the railway map, the railways has announced a special premium train service from Mumbai and Ahmedabad direct to the pilgrim town that should be a big motivation for devotees planning a trip to the Vaishno Devi shrine.

The service, which will operate weekly from Mumbai and biweekly from Ahmedabad, would make the otherwise arduous journey much more comfortable and significantly cut the duration, even if it costs a little more. A senior railway official said, "The economic profile of people making the pilgrimage to Vaishno Devi is fairly robust. So if they have to pay more for the premium service, we believe they will save money as far as the overall trip is concerned."

Bookings, which opened on Saturday, got off to a robust start with half the tickets sold for the first train from Bandra on October 6 in two days. Till June, travellers had to take a train to Delhi, then board a connecting service to Jammu from where the only way to Katra was a tiresome drive by bus. The bus fares were steep and the entire journey would take beyond two days.

"We believe people would not mind paying the premium charges for the convenience by train which will take them to the door of the hill shrine," the official said.

Katra railway station was opened on July 4, 2014. The railways estimates the duration of the journey direct from Mumbai to Katra at 33 hours and from Ahmedabad at 28 hours. The special train from Mumbai will leave Bandra Terminus on Mondays, beginning October 6, and the return service will operate on Tuesdays from Katra. Initially, the railways has planned to operate the service till October 28.

The service from Ahmedabad will operate twice weekly, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, beginning October 1. The return trip from Katra would be on Thursdays and Sundays. The trains will offer both air-condition and sleeper class options. "It would not have been wise to operate a fully air-conditioned service as it would have limited the market," the official said.

Premium train services were first launched on the Mumbai-Delhi sector last December and this has been the single-most promising new concept on the railways in a long time. While the Mumbai-Delhi premium season was a success, the services to Goa during the recent Ganpati season were a flop.

Katra railway station

The Katra-Udhampur section, inaugurated by prime minister Narendra Modi on July 4, 2014, is part of the ambitious 326km Udhampur-Katra-Quazigund-Srinagar-Baramulla railway line project of the Northern Railway and will provide seamless flow of rail traffic through Jammu to Katra via Udhampur through the entire Indian Railways network. The newly constructed Udhampur-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra rail line is 25.6 km and cost Rs1,132 crore to build.

The connects various towns in the Jammu region, and Katra is the most important of them because of the number of people who throng the Vasihno Devi temple there. Previously, Katra was accessible only by road from Jammu Tawi.

Bookings open

Ticket sales for the first direct service from Bandra terminus to Vaishno Devi on October 6

Class Current price Base price Availability

2AC Rs3,880 Rs 2,875 39 seats

3AC Rs2,915 Rs 1,960 113 seats

Sleeper Rs1,290 Rs 755 766 seats