To promote tourism, Railways will be launching 16 special Bharat Teerth trains connecting popular tourist sites as also pilgrimage centres in different parts of the country.

"The running of Bharat Teerth is to emphasise our unity in diversity and bring to reality Kabiguru's (Rabindranath Tagore) words in our national anthem Punjab Sindhu Gujarat Maratha, Dravida Utkala Banga, Vindhya Himachal Yamuna Ganga," Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said.

Presenting the 2010-11 budget in Lok Sabha, she said the trains are proposed to run on the following routes:

• Howrah-Gaya-Agra-Mathura-Vrindavan-New Delhi-Haridwar-Varanasi-Howrah
• Howrah-Chennai-Puducherry-Madurai-Rameswaram- Kanyakumari-Bangalore-Mysore-Chennai-Howrah;
• Howrah-Vizag-Hyderabad-Araku-Howrah;
• Howrah-Varanasi-Jammu Tawi-Amritsar-Haridwar- Mathura-Vrindavan-Allahabad-Howrah;
• Howrah-Ajmer-Udaipur-Jodhpur-Bikaner-Jaipur-Howrah;
• Mumbai-Pune-Tirupati-Kancheepuram-Rameswaram- Madurai-Kanyakumari-Pune-Mumbai;
• Pune-Jaipur-Nathdwara-Ranakpur-Jaipur-Mathura- Agra-Haridwar-Amritsar-Jammu Tawi-Pune
• Pune-Ratnagiri-Goa-Bangalore-Mysore-Tirupati-Pune;
• Ahmedabad-Puri-Kolkata-Gangasagar-Varanasi- Allahabad-Indore-Omkareshwar-Ujjain-Ahmedabad;
• Bhopal-Dwaraka-Somnath-Udaipur-Ajmer-Jodhpur- Jaipur-Mathura-Vrindavan-Amritsar-Jammu Tawi-Bhopal;

• Bhopal-Tirupati-Kancheepuram-Rameswaram-Madurai-Kanyakumari-Thiruvananthapuram-Kochi-Bhopal;

• Madurai-Chennai-Kopargaon-Mantrayalam-Chennai- Madurai;

• Madurai-Erode-Pune-Ujjain-Veraval-Nashik-Hyderabad- Chennai-Madurai;

• Madurai-Chennai-Jaipur-Delhi-Mathura-Vrindavan- Allahabad-Varanasi-Gaya-Chennai-Madurai;

• Madurai-Varanasi-Gaya-Patna Sahib-Allahabad- Haridwar-Chandigarh-Kurukshtra-Amritsar-Delhi-Madurai;

• Madurai-Mysore-Goa-Mumbai-Aurangabad-Hyderabad- Madurai. Banerjee said the detailed itinerary of these trains will be advertised from time to time.