Indian Railways launches direct daily train connecting Sabarmati in Gujarat with Katra for Vaishno Devi pilgrims

Key facts

• The Indian Railways has started a direct daily train between Sabarmati in Gujarat and Katra town in Jammu region, keeping in mind the interest of lakhs of pilgrims visiting the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district.
• Train No. 19223 departed from Sabarmati at 10.27 am on Sunday and will reach Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra at 6.55 pm on Monday.
• From the Katra side, the daily service begins on October 20 with train No. 19224 departing at 4.50 am and arriving at Sabarmati at 2.05 pm the next day.
• Until now, the daily Sabarmati BG-Jammu Tawi Express used to terminate at Jammu Tawi Railway Station, requiring transhipment at Jammu.
• The train completes the journey between Katra and Sabarmati in nearly 33 hours and has additional halts at Samba, Bari Brahmana and Martyr Captain Tushar Mahajan railway station in Udhampur.
• The route connects Katra via Sabarmati, Bathinda, Firozpur, Jalandhar and Pathankot, benefiting pilgrims from Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab.
• Nearly 1 crore pilgrims visit the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine every year, and Katra acts as the base camp for pilgrims moving to the shrine in the Trikuta Hills.