Rajasthan's super-luxury Palace on Wheels now Ayodhya bound

Jaipur: Forty-two years after it was launched, Rajasthan’s finest luxury train, Palace on Wheels (POW), meant to give tourists the nostalgic touch of the bygone princely era and the vibrant culture and traditions of Indian Maharajas, would now take a detour to the holy city of Ayodhya.

The POW, India’s first luxury train, was launched on Jan 26, 1982 by the railways in joint collaboration with Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) and mainly catered to the foreign tourists to give them an insight into the desert state’s rich cultural and historical heritage.

The route, which starts from Delhi, touches several cities namely Jaipur, Sawai Madhopur’s Ranthambhore Park, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and the Bharatpur bird sanctuary and Agra before it ends in Delhi.

The fully air-conditioned train features luxury amenities that have been designed to make the passengers feel pampered and relaxed including rejuvenating Ayurvedic spa, personal butlers, opulent personal cars to traditional welcome and royal dining experience inside and outside the train at luxury heritage hotels, which comprise non-vegetarian dishes and heritage alcoholic beverages savoured by the royalty.

The train is likely to begin its maiden religious trip from May this year. The operation and management of this train would be handled by a private company based in Gujarat, called Cube Construction Engineering Ltd. The route is expected to start from Delhi, Ayodhya, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Mathura, Vrindavan and back to Delhi and covers a distance of approximately 2411km. The religious trip on the train would be devoid of non-vegetarian cuisine and alcoholic beverages and only serve dishes prepared without onion and garlic.

And bhajans and devotional songs would be played along the entire route. The religious trip is expected to be conducted twice a month, providing access to local tourists who may just want to visit Ayodhya or Prayagraj. The seven night/eight day Rajasthan trip now costs Rs 2039310 per person during the peak season from Oct to March.

During the highest peak season of December, the total cost goes upto Rs 2262414 per person while the lean season in September and April costs Rs 1872563 per person.

But this year there has been an increase in tariff with presidential suites costing Rs 2091330 per cabin during peak season from Oct to March. The same suite would cost Rs 3023202 per cabin in the high peak season of December, 2024. And during September and April, it would cost Rs 2067509 per cabin.

The luxury train usually operates from September till April. Now the plan is to make the train operational round the year on an operation and management (O&M) basis. For this an agreement was signed between the Vadodara-based Cube Construction Company and RTDC for operating the train for five years.

Last year, the train started off on its maiden journey on September 25 with 66 passengers on board. The train with 14 luxury coaches can host up to 82 passengers. The train is being spruced up with a new look and the packages would be named as Shree Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya, Prayagraj with Jyotirlinga darshan and others.

The POW has been seeing a decline in its profit since 2016. The profits which accrued to 17.2 per cent in 2016-17 fell to 8.48 per cent in 2019-20, owing to the increase in agents' commission. The luxury train was also out of operation during the Covid pandemic, accumulating more losses.

Khalid Khan, vice-president of Federation of Hospitality and Tourism, Rajasthan, told Deccan Herald that the religious trip to Ayodhaya is a good idea but he emphasised that the tariff should be affordable. He said : “Since the target passengers would ideally be domestic tourists, the price factor has to be kept in mind. The pricing should be pocket-friendly as it is an unique opportunity to showcase our divine and holy places which have a unique charm of their own. And definitely it would be an additional earning for POW, which has suffered in the past few years, owing more to the pandemic. NRIs and multi-millionaires may prefer to travel in luxury for pilgrimages and the train would suit them.”

Sources say to accommodate domestic passengers, the prices may start from as low as Rs 20000 and go up to Rs 50000.