Punjab: Special Train 'Aastha' departs from Jalandhar for Lord Ram darshan in Ayodhya

Jalandhar (Punjab) [India], February 9 (ANI): The 'Aastha Special Train' was boarded by a large number of Lord Ram devotees from Jalandhar on Friday. The devotees are headed for Ayodhya Dham to pay their obeisance to Lord Ram at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.
Before the train departure, passengers raised slogans of Lord Shri Ram and filled the entire railway station with echoes of Lord Shri Ram chants.
Meanwhile, another Aastha special train commenced its journey to Ayodhya from the Kochuveli railway station in Thiruvananthapuram at 10 am on Friday.
BJP leader and former MoS for Railways O. Rajagopal flagged off the train with 103 passengers onboard.
A total of 972 people have booked for travel. 103 passengers boarded the train from Thiruvananthapuram while 111 passengers were booked from the Kochuveli station.
Earlier on Monday, the first Aastha Special Train carrying the first batch of Ram devotees to Ayodhya left from Hyderabad's Secunderabad Railway Station.
A total of 1,346 devotees boarded the train. The echoes of 'Jai Sri Ram' chants filled the Secunderabad Railway Station.
The special Aastha train service has been carrying devotees for the darshan of Ram Lalla in the newly-built Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
As per the Railways, each Aastha train comprises 20 sleeper coaches. One train can accommodate around 1,400 people.
The Indian Railways is running more than 200 Aastha special trains from various cities and tier 1 and tier 2 towns across India to Ayodhya after the Ram Temple consecration ceremony on January 22. (ANI)