September 8, 2018 TnH Global 0

Indian Railways to take care of your Shirdi travel needs

Good news for pilgrims travelling to Shri Sai Baba temple from Mumbai. Indian Railways along with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will soon make it possible for the travellers to book train tickets to Shirdi and tickets for entering visiting the temple at one go.

According to the senior railway officials, Railways is doing this to promote and attract more passengers going to Shirdi by train. “We are working out schemes whereby people booking rail tickets to Shirdi online can also book tickets for entry to the temple,” said a CR official, as cited by DNA.

The passengers will likely gain access to another link that would direct them to the site to book temple tickets after booking train tickets. The official said that IRCTC is working out the basic details for this and is in the nascent stage. The train would pass or terminate at Shirdi, such as Dadar-Sainagar Shirdi Express, Dadar-Sainagar Shirdi SF Express, and Mumbai CSMT-Sainagar Shirdi Passenger.

The pain point that the authorities are trying to sort out is prior booking. Currently, one can book tickets to Shirdi temple 60 days in advance, while train tickets can be booked 120 days in advance. The rail authorities are trying to convince the Shirdi temple trust to extend their advance booking dates by 120 days. Senior Railway Board officials said that they are working out a similar system for other temple towns like Tirupati, Siddhi Vinayak, Rameshwaram, etc, for religious tourism.