In a bid to attract more foreign tourists, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has tied up with Cox and Kings India Ltd (CKIL) to introduce the country’s first all-India state-of-the-art super luxury train. Termed as Maharajas’ Express, this 23-coach train will carry 82 passengers.

To be flagged off by January next year, the train is targeted at serving high-end customers as the tariffs range between US$800-2,500 – one of the highest in the world.

 

“We have a large number of foreign tourists visiting the country. They are not interested in visiting particular states but want to see as many places in the country. We have tied up with CKIL and formed a joint venture called Royale Indian Rail Tours Ltd,” said Nalin Singhal, director (tourism) of IRCTC.

 

“The train will be the first to cut across state boundaries and have state-of-the-art features that will make luxury rail travel in India a pleasurable experience. The train is currently being manufactured at Integral Coach Factory in Chennai,” said Singhal.

 

The train will have five deluxe carriages, each with four cabins, six junior suite carriages, each with three cabins, two suite carriages each with two suites and finally one presidential suite-exclusively in one carriage.

 

A senior railway official questioned the necessity of introducing yet another initiative for the niche market. “Palace on Wheels and the Deccan Odyssey are other such luxury trains that have been introduced at various places in collaborations with the respective state governments. While the former is successful, the latter is yet to get the desired response. The corporation should have worked towards popularising this initiative as even Deccan Odyssey is aimed at catering to international tourists,” he said.