The recent terror attacks in Mumbai have not deterred the Indian Railways from launching a new luxury train. The Indian Railway Catering Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the tourism arm of Indian Railways, has tied up with travel company Cox & Kings India (CKI) to launch a pan-India luxury rail service, The Economic Times reported.
IRCTC will run the train while CKI will handle the marketing, the report said. The train is expected to start functioning by the third quarter of 2009. This is the first time that Indian Railways has decided to run a luxury train, the report said.
Currently, the other luxury trains are Palace On Wheels (Rajasthan), Deccan Odyssey (Maharashtra) and Golden Chariot (Karnataka). All these trains are run by the respective states.
The report said the train would run weekly and expected to cover four regions - west, north, east and south - and would cover one region each week. The train will carry nearly 100 passengers in 15 coaches and will have two bars and two restaurants. A CKI spokesperson was quoted saying that fares for the new train would be decided later, but it would be higher than the existing ones.