With an eye on the next summer vacations, Mumbai has been connected to the top tourist destinations, Kerala and Aurangabad, by two new services.

The Garib Rath, touted as the poor man's air-conditioned luxury train, will ply between Mumbai-Kollam (Kerala) on the Konkan Railway's (KR) picturesque coastal route. It will offer a halt at Goa, another tourist paradise.

The inaugural special train left Thiruvananthapuram for Mumbai Friday evening 4.30 p.m. Regular services on this sector will start Monday (Feb 4) from Mumbai Lokmanya Tilak Terminus. In the return sector, it will start next Thursday (Feb 7) from Kochuveli.

The train will run Mondays and Fridays from Mumbai and Sundays and Thursday in the return sector, a KR spokesperson told IANS.

It will halt at Panvel, Ratnagiri, Sawantwadi Road, Karmali, Madgaon, Karwar, Ankola, Bijoor, Udupi, Kankanadi, Kannur, Kozhikode, Shoranur Junction, Thrissur, Ernakulam Town, Kottayam and Kollam.

A new daily Jan Shatabdi Express will be introduced on the Mumbai-Aurangabad sector from Tuesday (Feb 5) and from Wednesday on the return sector.

Connecting the metropolis to the world famous Ajanta-Ellora caves and other historic sites, the train will halt at Dadar, Kalyan, Nasik and Manmad before terminating at Aurangabad, a Central Railway spokesman said.

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