Bharat Gaurav trains leave Solapur, Bengaluru on pilgrimage tours from Rs 18,670

Several Bharat Gaurav tourist trains, the themed rail tours run under Indian Railways' Bharat Gaurav scheme, set off on pilgrimage and sightseeing circuits on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, from Solapur, Bengaluru and Sikar. IRCTC, the Railways' catering and tourism company, began its 11-night, 12-day "Divine Rajasthan with Khatu Shyam Ji and Ujjain Yatra" from Solapur in Maharashtra, with economy sleeper fares from Rs 18,670 a person. From Bengaluru, the private tour operator Tour Times began three special tourist train journeys under the same scheme, covering a Char Dham Yatra, a Shakti Peeth Yatra with Maa Vaishno Devi, and a Leh-Ladakh and Kashmir tour, with fares starting at Rs 44,950.

Bharat Gaurav trains are designed for people who want a pilgrimage or holiday without arranging every part of it themselves. A single package usually bundles rail travel, sightseeing transport, stays and meals, and the train serves as the base for the whole journey. That makes them popular with older travellers, families and groups from smaller towns, who might find it hard to plan a long multi-city trip on their own. The Bengaluru tours are explicitly aimed at families, senior citizens and group travellers.

The October departures come at the start of the busiest travel season of the year, between Dussehra and Diwali, when regular trains are heavily booked. A dedicated tourist train guarantees seats for the whole circuit, which is a big advantage when ordinary tickets to popular destinations are hard to get. The Solapur train's route also shows how these tours combine faith and heritage: it links the Khatu Shyam Ji temple and the temple city of Ujjain with Rajasthan's palace and lake cities.

The scheme also allows private operators to run themed trains, as Tour Times is doing from Bengaluru. That widens the choice of routes, with the Bengaluru departures reaching as far as Ladakh and Kashmir, but it also means prices and services vary from one operator to another. Travellers should compare what each package includes, such as hotel category, meals and local transport, rather than looking only at the starting fare.

For passengers, the boarding points matter as much as the destinations. The Solapur train picks up travellers at 10 stations across three states, and the Bengaluru trains stop at several suburban and nearby stations, which saves people from travelling to a single starting city.

Short-term: Pilgrims and tourists on these trains are travelling on fixed circuits through the festival season, easing pressure on regular trains to popular destinations. Further departures are listed on IRCTC's tourism site, including one on October 24.

Long-term: Steady demand for themed trains encourages Indian Railways and private operators to add more circuits, which can bring visitors to smaller pilgrimage towns and heritage sites that are hard to reach by other means.

Who is affected: Pilgrims and tourists, especially older travellers and families; tour operators; hotels, guides and local businesses at stops such as Ujjain, Pushkar and Jodhpur; and Indian Railways and IRCTC.

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