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‘Maharaja Suite’ available now inside Pune railway station’s heritage building
Five rooms have been developed into other kinds of accommodation and given the names of flowers namely, Lotus, Jasmine and Tulip
PUNE The next time you have to take a pit stop at Pune railway station because your train is delayed or for any other reason, you can simply check-in into any of the retiring rooms newly started by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) in the ‘heritage building’ of the railway station. The IRCTC has opened luxurious waiting rooms with dormitories, including the ‘Maharaja AC suite’ and deluxe private rooms with five-star hotel facilities, inside the ‘heritage building’ of Pune railway station. One side of the entire first floor has been used by the IRCTC so it is important to check about permissions while making changes to the heritage structure.
As per information shared by the IRCTC, there are several options available to passengers – from separate, normal, non-AC dormitories for male and female passengers to AC dormitories to non-AC deluxe rooms to one deluxe AC room with a king-size bed to one special, fully-furnished ‘Maharaja AC suite’ complete with two big beds, sofas and attached bathrooms. There are 50 beds in the two dormitories for male and female passengers while five rooms have been developed into other kinds of accommodation and given the names of flowers namely, Lotus, Jasmine and Tulip.
Gururaj Sona, IRCTC Pune division head, said, “All these accommodation rooms are given in time slots of three, six, nine, 12 and 24 hours. The starting range of the normal non-AC dormitory is ₹200 for three hours while the Maharaja suite is available at ₹2,500 for 24 hours. In this suite, an entire family can be accommodated and all the necessary facilities such as beds, washrooms, storage, mobile charging, hot water, etc. are provided. Passengers who want to stay for a few hours or one day waiting for their train can book accommodation only through the IRCTC website or mobile application.”
However, as these retiring rooms are built inside the heritage building of the Pune railway station, special permission is needed to make any kind of change in this building. Pinakin Morawala, spokesperson, IRCTC, said, “The space given to the IRCTC for retiring rooms is renovated by us to provide passenger facilities and bookings are carried out through the IRCTC website. Since we have taken up the retiring rooms’ service, we have focused on the requirement of passengers who are willing to pay for comfort, safety, appearance and the requisite facilities in these retiring rooms. However, we have totally taken care of the heritage structure of the Pune railway station and all necessary permissions and rules have been adhered to.”
Regular passengers are looking forward to this new facility at Pune railway station. Hari Reddy, a regular passenger from Pune, said, “I often travel from Pune railway station to various parts of the country and many times, trains get delayed and we have to wait for hours. And when the family is along with us, we need room to settle down, take rest, relax. Now if such luxurious rooms have been made available at the station itself, we will certainly use them when needed.”
Pune railway station’s main building is one of the oldest structures in the city, which was inaugurated on July 27, 1925. It is a one-storeyed building with the main entrance porch in the middle. While platform number one is inside the heritage building, the other six platforms have been newly built. Daily, more than 220 train operations are carried out from Pune railway station and around 3 lakh passengers travel from here.
