Tourists tired of waiting their turn to ride aboard the Palace on Wheels, one of the world's most luxurious trains which is fully booked until 2009, may get a chance to travel on its twin this year, a tourism ministry official has said.
"Talks are going on with the Railway officials. We can expect the second Palace on Wheels by this year," Union tourism secretary Vinod Zutschi told reporters in Jaipur on the sidelines of Rajasthan Day festival. The details have been worked out by the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation, he said.
The Palace on Wheels, whose 14-carriages are each named after a Rajput state and have four en suite-rooms, two attendants, two restaurant cars, one small gym, beauty saloon and a bar lounge, has received overwhelming response among tourists and is one of the main attractions of tourism in Rajasthan.
Originally, the train hauled carriages used by the Indian kings but those were replaced by modern look-alikes in the 1990s.
Several tourists are turned away due to non-availability of seats in the train, which carries 104 passengers on a week-long journey into the past every year between September to April.
The launch of another train on similar lines would help increase tourist inflow, besides enhancing the state's earnings, Zutschi said.
The proposed train would need an investment of around Rs 25 crore (Rs 250 million) and the fares, though not fixed yet, could be 20 per cent higher than what is charged for the existing train, tourism department sources said.
Rajasthan also has a another luxury tourist train -- the meter gauge Heritage on Wheels.
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