Not so royal revenue from royal trains in Rajasthan

JAIPUR: The revenue of luxury tourist trains covering popular sites in Rajasthan fell in the last three years, a railway report said today.

Palace on Wheels (POW) and Royal Rajasthan on Wheels (RROW), aimed at luring the international tourists were running into a serious trouble as their revenue was decreased by 24.08 per cent and 63.18 per cent respectively, a report by Ministry of Railways said.

Both the trains are operated by the Indian Railways in association with the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC).

"The role of the Indian Railways is limited to train operation. Respective Tourism Corporations has to take initiatives to market the train and improve the occupancy. Operation of limited number of trips/reduced composition of the train has been one reason for low revenue generation," the report said.

While Palace on Wheels, the queen of heritage trains in India, covers itineraries including New Delhi, Jaipur, Swai Madhopur, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bharatpur and Agra, the itineraries of similarly run Royal Rajasthan include New Delhi, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Swai Madhopur, Jaipur, Khajuraho, Varanasi and Agra.

According to the report, the occupancy of Palace on Wheels, which was 2024 passengers in 2014-15 reduced to 1739 in the year 2015-16 and further to 1373 in 2016-17.

Similarly, Royal Rajasthan on Wheels had occupancy of 654 passengers in 2014-15, which reduced to 493 in 2015-16 and to 237 in 2016-17.