Saturday, February 19 2005 15:37 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Eastern Railway today (Feb 19, 2005) ran a special train to commemorate the historic train journey of Swami Vivekananda from Budge Budge to Sealdah this day in 1897.

The Swamiji had arrived at Budge Budge by ship after delivering his famous speech at the Parliament of Religion in Chicago.

West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi flagged off the train, symbolising Swamiji's rail journey 108 years ago, at Budge Budge station as hundreds of people watched.

Railway General Manager Shyam Kumar said that the chair at the Budge Budge station, on which Swamiji sat while waiting for the train to Sealdah, had been preserved as a heritage item.

The chair, he said, was now at the 'Heritage Gallery' in the Railway headquarters at Fairlie Place.

He said that running of the symbolic train from Budge Budge to Sealdah was to rejuvenate the great event in the history of the Eastern Railway.

Kolkata Mayor Subrata Mukherjee was present at the function.