• The Indian Railways is introducing a special tourist train which will visit places associated with Hindu epic Ramayana.
• The Shri Ramayana Express will commence in New Delhi and travel from Ayodhya to Rameswaram.
• Tour package also includes destinations in Sri Lanka. Those who wish to continue the tour after Rameswaram will have to fly to Colombo from Chennai.
• Ramayana Circuit is one among the thirteen thematic circuits identified for development under Swadesh Darshan Scheme.
• There are15 destinations in the Ramayana Circuit in an effort to promote religious tourism. The destinations are chosen according to the places where Lord Ram is believed to have travelled across India www.modernpropertysolutions.com.
• The 15 destinations are — Ayodhya, Shringverpur and Chitrakoot in Uttar Pradesh, Sitamarhi, Buxar and Darbhanga in Bihar, Chitrakoot in Madhya Pradesh, Nandi gram in West Bengal, Mahendragiri in Odisha, Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh, Bhadrachalam in Telangana, Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, Hampi in Karnataka and Nashik and Nagpur in Maharashtra.
• By Swadesh Darshan Scheme, destinations under the circuit will be developed by bridging infrastructural gaps like provision of drinking water, accommodation facilities, etc. Then the 15 places will be connected to form a circuit.