Private operators set to run four iconic luxury tourist trains.

• Private operators are set to run four famous luxury trains of the country.
• The four trains are Palace on Wheels, Maharaja’s Express, Golden Chariot, Deccan Odyssey.
• Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw recently informed Parliament that all luxury tourist trains had been brought under the ambit of the Bharat Gaurav Trains Policy.
• Under this policy, service providers have full liberty to decide the themes, itineraries and tariff for the train managed by them.
• The cumulative earnings from these four elite trains stood at Rs 19.89 crore till November of this fiscal as against Rs 39 lakh and Rs 3.48 crore in the Covid-hit 2020-21 and 2021-22, respectively.
• In the current year (till November 30), the Maharaja’s Express, which primarily covers Rajasthan, has made the maximum number of trips followed by the Palace on Wheels. While Rs 14.34 crore was earned from seven trips made by Maharajas’ Express, revenue worth Rs 4.84 crore was generated from five trips made by the Palace on Wheels, yet another Rajasthan-centric luxury tourist train.
• Golden Chariot, which offers sightseeing in Karnataka and Goa, made just one trip so far this year producing revenue of Rs 70 lakh.
• Deccan Odyssey, which starts from Mumbai and has the Ajanta and the Ellora Caves among its offerings before returning to Mumbai, has not made any journey so far in this year.
• Deccan Odyssey remained completely idle in 2021-22 and 2020-21.

 About Bharat Gaurav Trains Policy:

Objective:

• To showcase India’s rich cultural heritage and magnificent historical places to the people of India and the world, through Bharat Gaurav Trains (Theme- based Tourist Circuit trains).

Brief Scope of Policy:

• Indian Railways aims to leverage the core strengths of the professionals of the tourism sector to run theme based trains to tap the vast tourist potential of India.
• Under this policy, registered Service Providers shall be offered rakes consisting of ICF coaches under “Right to Use” model by Indian Railways (IR) for operations of Bharat Gaurav Trains. Service Providers shall also have the option of procurement of new coaches directly from production units through the NRC (Non Railway Customer) plan.
• The Service Provider shall have the flexibility to decide the business model including themes, routes, itinerary, tariff and other attributes connected with this model.