3 Mar : Launched in 2007, Mahaparinirvan Express, a special air conditioned tourist train to the Buddhist Circuit has won National Tourism Award under ‘Most Innovative Tourism Product’ for the year 2007-2008. Mr. Rakesh Tandon, Managing Director, IRCTC received the award from Mr. P. Chidambaram, Hon’ble Union Home Minister at a function held in Hotel Ashok on 24th Feb., 2009 in New Delhi.
The objective is to provide a safe, comfortable & reliable travel package for National & International travelers on the Buddhist Circuit.Tourists, Travel Agents & Media from India, Thailand, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Japan, USA, Canada, Germany, Netherland, Australia, Sri Lanka etc. have enjoyed the unmatched hospitality and seamless services rendered by the self motivated team during this 8 days trip.
Starting from Delhi (Delhi Safdarjung Station), the 8 day tour covers Bodhgaya –Rajgir – Nalanda – Varanasi – Sarnath – Gorakhpur – Kushinagar – Lumbini -Sravasti and Agra. This tour provides an all inclusive package including Rail Travel, Road Travel, Hotel Accommodation, Sightseeing, All Meals, Insurance, Security, Medical Back Up etc. Coaches of the special train have been provided with modern shower cubicles and environment friendly toilets. Three classes of travel are available viz., I AC, 2 tier AC & 3 tier AC. Well trained staff on-board the train provides high quality personalized services.
The train was flagged off on 6th October, 2007 and has been very well received in the international as well as domestic markets.
Indian Railways is one of the world’s largest rail networks with a route length of almost 64,000 Km. It runs over 14,000 trains daily (including 8,000 passenger trains) and transports over 6 billion passengers and almost 750 million tones of freight annually.
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC), a public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Railways was established on 1st August, 2001 with the objective of professionalizing catering services and promoting domestic and international tourism. IRCTC has grown manifold in the past six years and its turnover has gone up from 09.85 Crores in 2001-02 to 433 Crores in 2006-07. There are six Zonal Offices and ten Regional Offices all over the Country for monitoring operations at ground level.
IRCTC’s vision is “ To become a leading provider of high quality travel, tourism and hospitality related services in the country” IRCTC’s key products & services includes:
• Rail Tourism Services
• E-Tickets & I-Tickets
• Call Centre Services
• Budget Hotels
• Packaged Drinking Water
• Food Plazas
• Catering Services
Customer Focus: IRCTC is designed as a customer-centric enterprise and believes in fostering excellence among its employees. With its highly motivated team of professionals, the company is building a strong customer database and maintaining continuous contact with customers to raise the level of quality. In the true sense of India’s age old tradition, IRCTC is working ceaselessly to achieve the philosophy of “Atithi Devo Bhava”.