The special gesture comes months after the PM called on Sant Niranjan Dass, the head of the influential Dera Sachkhand Ballan, and ahead of celebration of the 650th Parkash Purab of Guru Ravidas at his birthplace Seer Govardhanpur in Varanasi. The Sant Ravidas Express will be the first direct AC train to connect Amritsar and Varanasi.
Notably, the 650th birth anniversary year of the saint will coincide with the Punjab Assembly elections scheduled for 2027. Dalits comprise about 41 to 42 per cent of the state population, and the Ravidassia community (primarily centered in Doaba) comprises 31 to 32 per cent of the state’s Dalit population. The dera is an influential seat of the Ravidassias with considerable influence among the state’s Dalit vote bank.
The 18-coach express will ply between Amritsar (Chheharta) and Varanasi on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays (returning the next day), halting at 12 stations — Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Ambala Cantt, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Lucknow, Sultanpur, Jaunpur City and Varanasi — covering 1,048.33 km.
The inaugural train will be flagged off from Jalandhar Cantt by the PM at 3.40 pm on July 17.
The train has three AC coaches (two AC 3-tier and one AC 2-tier), six second-class general coaches, seven vestibuled second-class 3-tier sleeper coaches and one coach for persons with disabilities.
The train will feature user-friendly ergonomic berths, bio-vacuum toilets, CCTV surveillance and enhanced safety features.
Every year, lakhs of pilgrims from across the country, especially Doaba in Punjab, head to Seer Govardhanpur for the birth anniversary of Guru Ravidas. An unprecedented rush is expected next year for the 650th birth anniversary of the 15th-century saint, with a special tent city planned for devotees.
Railway officials said three to four trains currently run from Jammu Tawi to Varanasi and beyond, two of them daily.
Additionally, a couple of trains also run from Ferozepur to Bihar with Varanasi as one of the stops.
Additionally, five trains also run from Amritsar to various destinations like Assam, Kolkata, Tata Nagar, etc., with Varanasi as one of the stoppages on the way. However, there is no direct train originating from Amritsar with Varanasi as the last stop.
Sat Paul Virdi, former general secretary of the Dera Sachkhand Ballan, said, “We are immensely happy with the PM’s warm gesture towards our community and Guru Ravidas. We are very thankful as the train will greatly ease the festive rush."
"We have time and again asked for five free special trains for the Ravidas Jayanti from Punjab as the number of devotees far exceeds the capacity of the trains currently operating on the route,” he said.
Expenses for the festive special 'Begampura\B \BExpress' are paid for by the Dera Sachkhand Ballan. "It costs the dera between Rs 20 and 40 lakh and is a non-AC train," Virdi said.
A new chapter
Every February, a special, non-AC train called the Begampura Express, named for the utopia promised by the 15th-century saint, Guru Ravidas, chugs out from the Jalandhar station to the saint’s birthplace, Varanasi, during his birth anniversary, carrying thousands of his devotees. On Friday, when PM Modi flags off the new Sant Ravidas Express, the tri-weekly service will become the first direct train between Punjab and Varanasi, linking the state's Ravidassia heartland with the saint's birthplace in the PM's parliamentary constituency.