No takers for much-touted Bharat Gaurav trains

HYDERABAD: It seems there are no takers for the Bharat Gaurav Trains, an initiative of the ministry of railways. The ministry came up with the new concept of theme-based tourist circuit trains named Bharat Gaurav Trains. The railways invited tour operators and tourism departments to join them as stakeholders. However, even though it has been launched more than six month ago, there are no takers for the scheme yet.

When contacted, the Telangana tourism department officials said there was no proper correspondence from the railways and if there was proper coordination, the department would be interested in encouraging tourism.  

The initiation was taken by Indian Railways to showcase the country’s rich cultural heritage and magnificent historical places to the people of India and the world. In this regard, to explain the modalities and feasibilities, the South Central Railway (SCR) held an interactive meeting with tour operators in December last.

The module is for a bigger quantity of tourists, as each train will consist of 10 to 14 coaches, in each coach there can be 70 passengers, that means for each trip at least 600 to 700 tourists can travel in these trains. This could be the reason for the failure for this module of tourism, officials opined.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, managing director, Telangana Tourism Development Corporation, Manohar Rao, said, “There has been no proper correspondence from the railways’ end. This is a good initiation by the railways to showcase India’s rich cultural heritage and magnificent historical places to the people of India. If the terms and conditions match, we will partner with this.”

R. Sudarshan, chief commercial manager, passenger service, said, “Fewer tour operators are showing interest in the module. Last week one train started from Coimbatore.”