Mumbai couple books ‘home on wheels’ for son’s birthday

MUMBAI: Aware that their young son, Siddhartha V, is a huge railway fan, an Andheri couple is planning a memorable ride for him when he turns 10 on November 12. In a first for Mumbai, the family has booked an AC saloon, billed as ‘Home on Wheels’ for a journey by Netravati Express to Goa.

The railway board has allowed the general public to book saloons, which are meant for senior officers on inspection duty, because they are underutilised and remain idle for many days.


An official said a saloon offers guests all the comforts of a hotel as it has a living room, two bedrooms, attached baths and dining areas with a kitchen and two attendants.

The first privately-occupied AC saloon coach journey was on March 31 between Delhi and Jammu by Jammu Mail. IRCTC managing director Arvind Malkhede said, “Recently, a spiritual head of the Bohra community had travelled by a saloon between Indore and Ahmedabad on October 5. This (by the Andheri family) is the first booking from Mumbai.”

The family said Siddhartha and his father are huge rail aficionados.

“Wherever we travel, we prefer to take the train. This year, we travelled to Japan and travelled by Shinkansen (bullet train),” Siddhartha’s mother said adding that he has the full collection of Hornby model train sets— a popular a British model railway brand.

She said they want to keep the celebration plan a surprise to other family members—a total of nine people will travel in the saloon. “We usually don’t celebrate birthdays with a party. However, this is landmark birthday as he will turn 10,” she added. The journey will cost the family around Rs 2.2 lakh.

The Indian Railways has 336 saloon cars, and 62 of them are air-conditioned.