Katra-Delhi train to run from today

Finally, the long wait of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi ji pilgrims has come to an end as Railway authorities have decided to start daily train service from New Delhi to Katra from Monday, July 14.
As per railway officials, a fully Air Conditioned (AC) superfast Shri Shakti Express will depart from New Delhi station at 5:30 pm daily and arrive at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Railway station at 5:10 am the next day.
Similarly, in the return direction, it will depart from Katra at 10:55 pm daily and reach New Delhi at 10:45 am the next day, a Northern Railway statement said.
Consisting of one first AC, five AC two-tier and nine AC three-tier coaches, the train will have stoppages at Ambala Cantonment, Ludhiana, Jalandhar Cantt, Pathankot Cantt, Jammu Tawi and Udhampur stations enroute in both directions.
The officials said that minimum fare per passenger ranges between Rs 3000 to Rs 1500, depending upon the class of travel.
Earlier only three Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) trains plied daily between Jammu to Katra and with the start of Shri Shakti Express from tomorrow onwards a Vaishno Devi pilgrim can board a train from Delhi to directly reach Katra- the base camp for the Shrine .
Pertinently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on July 4 flagged off the first train from Katra to run on the 25-km-long Udhampur-Katra line, built at an estimated cost of Rs 1,132.75 crore.
At the function, the Prime Minister had named the train Shri Shakti Express and said such services are planned from major cities in the country. The shrine attracts about 10 million pilgrims annually.