The heritage Palace on Wheels will finally arrive in Jaipur with 24 tourists on board on its maiden tour .

Pradeep Bohra, general manager of the train who is accompanying the tourists, informed that the train left from Delhi's Safdarganj station and will arrive at Jaipur's Gandhinagar station on the last leg of its Golden Triangle circuit tour — which includes Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.

Train officials were exhilarated over the maiden voyage of this train as it took quite some effort to get the tourists on board the luxury train.

The passengers were given a warm departure in Delhi with band playing music and with all the gala celebration. The preparations are now being made at Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) for the train's arrival.

The success of the train is essential for RTDC as it also plans a tour on Shekhwati circuit starting this January .

This is the third royal super luxury train in Rajasthan which is being run by RTDC.

While palace on wheels is a known name, RTDC had for years also run RROW (Royal Rajasthan on wheels) which was discontinued only few months back .

Before starting off on the voyage it was kept at Bais godown railway station and was sent to Delhi few days back .

The train will depart from Jaipur on Saturday itself at 8:30 pm from Durgapura station.

Source: www.dnaindia.com

Maharaja Express, the Royal train, reached Udaipur on Thursday morning. Passengers were given a Red Carpet welcome at the railway station.

Maharaja Express started its journey on 30th September and reached Udaipur at 10 a.m. on 5th October. Tourists aboard have been enjoying all the modern amenities in the royal train. The Express train is on its journey from Delhi to Mumbai via Udaipur.

Upon reaching Udaipur, passengers were given a Red-Carpet welcome. The cheapest fare on the IRCTC train is 1 lakh 93 thousand 490 rupees and the most expensive one is fared at 15 lakhs 75 thousand 830 rupees.

The royal train is basically a five star hotel on wheels. The vessels used for serving food are reportedly coated with a layer of 24 carat gold. The train is equipped with one safari bar and 2 restaurants.

As per Udaipur city station manager SC Verma, the foreign tourists were given a red carpet welcome and then were taken for a city tour in buses. Meanwhile Railway Security Force took care of safe guarding the train.

Source : udaipurtimes

The super luxury train of Maharashtra, the Deccan Odyssey, arrived in Vijayapura on Sunday. It will also halt at Bagalkot on Monday to show enchanting monuments of both the districts to passengers.

The special 21-coach train which covers three States, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, will visit Vijayapura and Bagalkot districts, which are home to some splendid monuments built during the Adil Shahi and Chalukya eras.

This is one of the trains that offer five star facilities on wheels. One could enjoy Jacuzzi, spa, and a variett of cuisines.

The train has all the luxury that one could dream of. This train not only gives the best travelling experience but also takes passengers to various tourist destinations of three States during its sojourn, said Srirang Athale, logistic supplier, in Vijayapura.

Mr. Athale said that the train saves time and energy of the people in booking various modes of transport and hotels during their visit to listed tourists destination.

“Just pay once and all your needs are taken care between Mumbai and Mumbai for eight days,” he said.

He said that the train which operates generally between October and May, carries a maximum of 80 passengers based on booking.

The fair is around Rs. 5 lakh/person for the eight-day tour in which monuments such as Gol Gumbaz, the Badami caves, Aihole, Pattadakal, the Golconda in Hyderabad, the Ajanta-Ellora caves are shown.

Mr. Athale said that though most of the passengers who book are foreigners, some elite Indians also travel by this train for that different experience in life.

He said that States such as Rajasthan and Karnataka have also introduced luxury trains called the Palace on Wheels and the Golden Chariot.

Mr. Athale said that trains such as the Deccan Odyssey have helped in improving tourism industry here and more importantly, made Indian and foreign travellers to know about the ancient monuments of Vijayapura.

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/

At the World Travel Market 2016 in London, the leading event for the global travel industry, euronews spoke to Priyank Kharge, Minister of State IT, BT, and Tourism Karnataka (India), about an outstanding tourist offer his Indian state has to offer: the “Golden Chariot” train.

One of the best-curated tours of Karnataka is the “Golden Chariot”, which is a luxury train. It travels right through the heritage of Karnataka, which is a two thousand years old heritage and then it passes on to Goa. You get a rich tour of history and then one of the best beaches. And the other track goes through the temple town of Tamil Nadu and then comes back to Karnataka. So we not only promote Karnataka but also other states of India through the “Golden Chariot”. So these are the most well curated train tours.

Source:http://www.euronews.com/

If destination weddings are too passe for you, and you have Rs 5.5 crore to spare, get ready for a `travel-to-a-destination' wedding aboard the Maharajas' Express.

Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation is planning to start a Wedding on Wheels package, a week-long extravaganza aboard the luxury train, which will merge both wedding festivities with the experience of traversing through Incredible India. 

Aimed at the uber rich, who want to give their guests a unique taste of India along with all the glitz and glamour of a desi wedding, an officer from IRCTC said, "There will be the best of everything, managed by experts to make it one of the most memorable events for the bride, groom and their families. We are finalising the finer details and will launch these packages on demand.We are hoping it's a huge success." Of course, this weddingcum-tour package comes at a jaw-dropping price. Booking the entire train for 88 passengers for a luxury eight-day wedding package will cost approximately Rs 5.5 crore for the Heritage of India tour, which travels from Mumbai to Delhi through Ajanta, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Jaipur, Ranthambore and Agra. There are other locations covered in other packages like the Indian Panorama tour that starts and ends in the Capital, taking passengers through Jaipur, Agra, Gwalior, Khajuraho, Varanasi and Lucknow.

The train has 24 coaches fitted with 43 guest cabins - 20 deluxe, 18 junior suites, four suites and one presiden tial suite. The general fare per person for the eight-day Heritage of India tour starts at $6,840 (approx Rs 4.5 lakh) and goes up to $23,700 (Rs 15.8 lakh) for the presidential suite.

Apart from hosting weddings, IRCTC is also planning to rope in corporates and Bollywood to make their plan a success. "We are open to the idea of not only hosting grand weddings but also top-of-theline corporate events, movie shoots, fashion events, etc in one of the most luxurious trains of the country," said Pinakin Morawala, spokesperson of IRCTC, west zone.

Sky's the limit in glass-top coaches

Come December, passengers can stare into the skies in the new glass-ceiling coaches being introduced by IRCTC.

These coaches have been jointly designed by IRCTC, Research, Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), and Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Perambur.

Three such coaches, each costing Rs 4 crore, will roll out from ICF in December this year. The first coach will be tagged in a regular train in the Kashmir Valley while the other two will be part of a train travelling through the picturesque Araku Valley on the SouthEastern Railway, said A K Manocha, chairman and managing director of IRCTC. Which specific trains will have these special coaches has not been decided yet.

The main aim objective behind this project is to promote tourism and woo upscale tourists from both India and abroad, said Manocha, adding, "We believe such coaches would also give a fillip to rail tourism in India." 

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/