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A
new heritage train on the lines of the luxurious Palace on Wheels will soon ramble through Rajasthan. The Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC), in collaboration with the Railways, will start this new train “Heritage on Wheels” to tackle the rising number of tourists in the state, official sources said. The new train, starting from Jaipur and ending at Bikaner, will cover Navalgarh, Churu and other Shekhawati in north-east Rajasthan. This will be the second heritage train in Rajasthan after ‘Palace on Wheels’. Officials said the Palace on Wheels, immensely popular among tourists, is booked till 2010. A train with historic charm and modern conveniences, ‘Palace on Wheels’ takes tourists on a royal odyssey, bringing alive the luxury of princely travel through this desert state. Beginning its week-long journey from the Delhi cantonment, the train covers Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Sawai Madhopur, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Bharatpur and Agra before returning to Delhi. This new heritage train with 14 coaches would be air- conditioned and have a capacity of 100 passengers. However, there would be no facility of attached toilets in the train. Sources said more than Rs 12.5 million would be spent on the decoration of the train. “Earlier this heritage train used to ply in Gujarat. Currently, the train is in the Ajmer yard where it is being decked up for its first journey,” official sources said. Sources said the RTDC has offered a 50 per cent partnership to the Indian Railways in this project but the final decision in this matter is still pending. Meanwhile, the number of foreign tourists visiting the state between January and April this year was 456,000, up by 36 per cent compared to last year.
— IANS |
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