HYDERABAD: IRCTC and South Central Railway (SCR) have teamed up with various low cost private airlines such as Indigo, TruJet, and SpiceJet, to give a boost to domestic tourism in a post COVID-19 era.
In addition to this, SCR and IRCTC, have also developed economic packages for all the five South Indian States and major pilgrimage locations, ranging anywhere between Rs 5,000 and Rs 8000. The package will include stay, food, and visit to tourist locations with a guide.
Keeping COVID-19 situation in mind, SCR has allocated isolation bogeys in each train in case any member of the group becomes symptomatic, and sanitisation kits will be given out to all members at every stop.
Speaking at the press conference, officials from IRCTC said, "We have arranged full trains for famous pilgrimage centres including Prayagraj, Varanasi, Gaya, Puri, Bhubaneshwar, Srisailam, Kanyakumari, Madurai, and Tiruchirapalli."
The economic packages include stay in dormitories, while the domestic air packages that are more expensive include stay in three star hotels.
The trains to pilgrimage centres will have 18 coaches, of which 14 are sleeper coaches, under the economy category, and one three tier AC coach under comfort category. People can book tickets online. There is also an LTC discount for Central government employees. Every passenger will be provided with a sanitisation kit which will include gloves, sanitisers and other essentials items, said the IRCTC officials at a press conference