Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will travel by the presidential saloon, a high-tech 'armoured' rail coach, the 8km stretch from Katra to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh on February 7 to dedicate to the nation a bridge on Saryu River.
A decision to this effect was taken after the elite Special Protection Group, which provides security to the PM, wrote to Rashtrapati Bhavan seeking its nod to use the saloon, sources said on Thursday.
Railway Minister Nitish Kumar will accompany Vajpayee.
The last time that a PM undertook a train journey was in the early 1980s, when Indira Gandhi travelled from Chandigarh to New Delhi.