New Delhi: The first phase journey of arguably the world's largest mobile science and technology museum concluded on Saturday at the capital's Safdurjung railway station after a 182-day-long trip covering 51 cities of the country.

The second phase will kick off from Ahmedabad on August 12.

Science Express, a train that was started on November 30, 2008, features over 300 large format science-related visuals, 150 video clips explaining different scientific phenomena and multimedia exhibits. The 16-coach train has thus far travelled a distance of 17,000 km.

"The main idea behind Science Express is to promote the importance of science amongst youth. We wanted the students of schools across India to be a part of a scientific environment," said Dilip Mirzhapure, the project coordinator.

The fully air-conditioned museum-cum-exhibition is a joint initiative of the ministry of science and technology, the Vikram Sarabhai Community Science Centre, Germany based Max-Planck-Gesellschaft company and Indian Railways.

"We have had over 12.5 lakh (1,250,000) visitors and we look forward to another successful journey of Science Express that begins on August 12 from Ahmedabad. This phase will be about eight months long," added Mirzhapure.

The train carried over 50 science communicators from the Sarabhai centre and other project coordinators.

"It was a lifetime experience on the train and I loved educating the curious students who came to visit the train. Science communication is not easy but it was a learning experience," said Shraddha Gargatti, an engineer by training, who was part of the team aboard the Science Express. IANS