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: in its eight-day tour will touch the Taj Mahal, Jaipur, Dharamsala and Kangra Valley in Himachal Pradesh. In addition, it will also go to Patiala and then move on to Amritsar and Kapurthala. From there the train will go to Kangra valley and then travel to Wagah.
The eight-day trip on the luxury train to Karnataka will include visits to Hampi and Pattadakal, Mysore Palace, the backwaters of Kerala, Bangalore, and the ruins of Vijayanagara Empire.
The railway ministry is also planning to allow private operators to run such trains. Tour operators Cox and Kings and the Oberoi Group of Hotels are keen to run their own luxury trains. The Orient Express has also shown its interest in a similar project. Meanwhile the railway-run Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation is also thinking of starting a similar train. However, the profitability of such trains remains an issue, so much so that IRCTC decided to exit the business and now the trains are run independently by the state governments. Sources say while the Palace on Wheels enjoys full occupancy, the Deccan Odyssey has only 30% occupancy.
However for those coming to India with visions of royalty and splendour, these trains are a dream come true. As Lucy Phillip, a recent traveller says: “It was everything and more than what I had thought of. I’ll remember the experience forever.”...
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