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Palace on Wheels to resume this September, drop in tariff likely: Official
The Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation and Indian Railways launched the special heritage tourist train to provide a unique memorable experience to tourists in 1981-82
JAIPUR: The luxury royal train, Palace on Wheels, which was halted in view of the Covid pandemic in 2020, will resume from September this year, a senior official said.
Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation chairman Dharmendra Rathore is expected to soon ink a new agreement with the India Railways after multiple meetings on the topic, said a senior official familiar with the development.
The official said the corporation will clear its dues of around ₹42 crore before the Palace on Wheels resumes, The corporation handed over a cheque of ₹5 crore, and another instalment of ₹3 crore is expected to be paid this week.
Officials said the outstanding amount includes about ₹27 crore on account of haulage and other charges of Rajasthan Royals on Wheel, another luxury train, which now has been surrendered. In addition, there was some pending share of ₹12 crore of railways from Palace on Wheel.
The railways and RTDC used to get revenue in the ratio of 56: 44 from the revenue generated from the train. But the distribution pattern has changed and the RTDC will have to pay haulage charges according to the Bharat Gaurav train policy.
The railway has sent the draft agreement and work to renovate the train will be carried out after the agreement is sealed.
RTDC chairman Dharmendra Rathore said, “We have started clearing the outstanding towards the railways and released a sum of ₹5 crore. In coming weeks, a new agreement will be inked with the railways.”
“The corporation is also considering reducing the train tariff to increase the occupancy… The train is running since 1982 and has never been in a loss,” said Rathore, adding that the luxury train has an average occupancy of 60-70%.
Under different categories, the tariff of the trains, currently are from ₹55,000 to ₹1.53 lakh.
In 2019-20, the train generated a revenue of ₹14.65 crore, ₹16.17 crore in 2018-19, ₹14.05 crore in 2017-18), and ₹13.96 crore in 2016-17.
