India has the world's most luxurious train
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It is pitched as the most expensive train ever to run on the Indian railway tracks.
After the formal flagging off ceremony by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on January 16, The Deccan Odyssey (DO), dubbed as the "five star hotel on rails," will traverse a distance of 2200 kilometres covering the Konkan Coast, the Deccan plateau and Goa in early February.
The train will unveil the magic of the Deccan plateau and the golden beaches with swaying coconut palms along the Konkan coast for its passengers.
A joint venture of the Indian Railways and the Maharshtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), it hopes to bring in the much needed capital to the bankrupt state exchequer.
"The train has all the comforts that you can get in a five star hotel, plus the additional value of seeing the virgin beauty of the coastal areas, traditional Maharashtrian culture and pristine beaches in Goa," says MTDC managing director Ashish Kumar Singh.
A single occupancy suite in the DO during peak season (October to March) will cost $480, while a triple occupancy cost $285.
The DO has a capacity of 80 passengers and will complete the journey in seven days.
The 21 blue coaches is furnished in Maharaja style with suites, gyms, two restaurants, conference rooms being part of the train.
The cost of this venture is around Rs 30 crore and the MTDC will be in charge of the service and hospitality and the Railways will be operating the train.
"The MTDC will be responsible for on board catering, sight seeing at different locations, provision of staff, interior furnishing, marketing and even booking packages," said Singh.
Already the entire train has been booked by an Italian group for its inaugural run which will be in February ? both the MTDC and the Indian Railways have yet to set the date.
"The 720 kilometer coast line of Maharashtra, dotted with beaches and supplemented by ancient temples, coastal forts that remind of naval power of the Maratha empire, folk arts and malvani cuisine are unique attraction that only this state can offer," said Sunil Jain CPRO , Central Railways. MTDC officials state that it will be run on similar line as the 'Palace on Wheels' that has by now become a sort of icon for Rajasthan tourism. ? only the Deccan Odyssey is perhaps even more luxurious than the Palace on Wheels.
The MTDC hopes to cash in on the virtually unexploited Konkan region. "Though Goa hasalways been a popular tourist sport for foreigners there are an equally good number of beaches within Maharashtra itself. For instance the Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg beaches are as unpolluted as beaches in Gao, but unfortunately there has been very little access to them," he says.
The MTDC's USP, however, will be the legendry Ajanta, Ellora and Elephanta caves. "The average foreigner today comes to India in search of an India of the past, one of the oldest civilisations on earth. Ajanta and Ellora will fire his imagination as it is something really ancient and yet breathtaking ," he says.
But will there be any takers for the steep tariffs? And will the train generate enough traffic to sustain the run for a longer period ?
"We know that the tariffs are a bit high. But we are providing what the foreign tourist wants desperately when they come to India ,that is namely privacy. We promise a journey into Maharashtra Unlimited," says Singh who was instrumental in coining another catch line â God's Own Country for Kerala â in the eighties.
For the cash- strapped state government , one hopes the Odyssey ends in, well, an odyssey and does not become a white elephant.
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