The tourism sector of the Indian Railways is going through a lean patch as the popularity of royal trains, which once held a big attraction for foreign tourists, have declined sharply. The revenue from the super luxury tourist trains — the Palace on Wheels and Royal Rajasthan — operated jointly by Indian Railways and Rajasthan Tourism — has dipped in a big way. The revenue for the Royal Rajasthan has come down by massive 63.18 per cent and Palace on Wheels’ revenue decreased by 24.08 per cent.
The Ministry of Railways has blamed the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) for the decline in number of tourists and revenue.
According to the report, the occupancy of Palace on Wheels, which was 2,024 passengers in 2014-15, came down to 1,739 in 2015-16. It further dipped to 1,373 in the fiscal 2016-17. The Royal Rajasthan also did not do well and its occupancy declined from 654 passengers in 2014-15 to 493 in 2015-16, and just 237 in 2016-17.
“The Kalka Shimla Tory Train accident which claimed two United Kingdom nationals’ lives three years ago has not gone down well with the international tourists, mostly Europeans. Such incidents, specifically in the tourism sector, do a lot of damages,” said one RTDC official.
A report prepared by the Railway Ministry has said railways role is limited only to train operations of both the luxury trains and the RTDC. “Operation of limited number of trips and reduced composition of the train has been a reason for low revenue generation,” said the report.
One of the most popular heritage train the Palace on Wheels covers New Delhi, Jaipur, Swai Madhopur, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bharatpur and Agra, while the Royal Rajasthan covers New Delhi, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Swai Madhopur, Jaipur, Khajuraho, Varanasi and Agra.
Concerned with the reduced revenues, the tourism arm of railways, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is working to offer reduced prices of such luxury and special trains catering generally to international tourists.
Further to promote rail tourism, chairman Railway Board (CRB Ashwani lohani) recently took the initiative to conduct first tourism interactive session with Travel Trade Partners and Associations and stakeholders.
Earlier this month, a Parliamentary Committee blamed the national transporter for not doing enough to promote rail tourism following which lohani asked all zonal Railways to promote rail tourism on select routes. .
On the occasion of 69th Republic Day, the Railways rechristened the iconic Fairy Queen rail engine as 69 Ganrajya Express to run a two coach trains between New Delhi railway station and Delhi Junction. The 1855-make engine is the oldest working steam locomotive in the world.