IRCTC’s Bharat Darshan from west, south zones too

ROHIT KHANNA
Posted: Wednesday, Jan 14, 2009 at 0002 hrs IST
Updated: Wednesday, Jan 14, 2009 at 0002 hrs IST

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Kolkata: With the success of Bharat Darshan (tourist train run by eastern zone), Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is planning to run a similar service from western and southern zones as well. Earlier, western and southern zones of IRCTC were running such service via private operators.

Confirming the development, IRCTC general manager Vivek Srivastava said, “We have recently decided to run the service from western and southern zones.” Although the tour details are being finalised, it is learnt that the service will be preliminarily restricted to the hinterland of both the regions and central India.

“This is being done in accordance with the ministry’s idea of launching the concept of village on wheels. While the eastern region charges as low as Rs 500 per day per person, charges for other regions are yet to be finalised,” Srivastava said .

Meanwhile, eastern region IRTC is looking at rolling out three more tours this fiscal. While the 13-day trip to south India is scheduled to begin this month, it will organise trips to Rajasthan and Araku by February. The region has already organised three tours to north India and Rajasthan.

“We are looking at organising two tours per month from the next fiscal,” said Srivastava.

Eastern region IRCTC has just achieved break-even for Bharat Darshan tours. “We can break even at around 60% booking. We expected more bookings as it picks up gradually,” he added. The tours, primarily aimed at budget travellers, have drawn tourists from upper middle class also.

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