Title - Exhibition on train to showcase country’s biodiversity

The ‘Science Exhibition-Biodiversity Special’, a mobile Exhibition Train, will arrive at Chennai Central on August 11 and showcase its wares at select stations in the Southern Railway network over the month.The 13-coach train will be on display at Chennai Central from August 11-15, Kudal Nagar (Madurai) from Aug. 16-19, Kanyakumari (Aug. 20-23), Ernakulam (Aug. 24) and Kozhikode (Aug. 25-28).The exhibition, which is into its fifth phase, will be open for public viewing from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and there is no entry fee. All sections of the public especially the school and college students / teachers are expected to visit the exhibition.In tune with the declaration of 2011-2020 as the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity and United Nations Decade for Deserts and Fight against Desertification, the exhibition aboard the train, therefore, is based on the theme 'Biodiversity'. The exhibition aims to showcase the wide array of biodiversity in the country, conservation measures, aspects of climate change, water, energy conservation, environment and legacy of the Science Express. The train also houses the extremely popular Vikram Sarabhai Community Science Centre’s ‘Joy of Science’ hands-on lab as well as teachers’ training facility.Flagged off on October 30 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on its first phase, the Science Express Exhibition Train so far covered over 68,000 km across the country during its previous four phases. With over 63.60 lakh visitors during its 220 halts /exhibitions on 801 exhibition days, Science Express is now the largest, longest and most visited mobile science exhibition in India, the Railways said.