[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

Going by the theme (religious tours), it is primarily targeted at the retired/elderly folks. But 50% of seats are not be easily accessible to them, because of bunk bed setup:

Agree. No way anyone in ill health (not just elders) will agree to spend 2+ weeks clambering up each night into those upper bunks.

[PearlJam]

Whenever I see "luxury" and "government" together, I'm always curious about what that looks like. The general perception is that in the end, it always tends to have a typical "government kind" of feel to it.

In my honest opinion, unfortunately, the perception seems right yet again. From the first two pictures, I see the flooring, the mirror, the light fixtures, the plug points, and the curtains all have that unmistakable and tired feel of an "Ashok" hotel of the 90s/2000s. A bit of gaudiness added to the dining areas completes this picture.

I think it's high time that the government outsources all these luxury concepts completely to a private agency.

[desidino]

Excellent initiative. Given the pricing, not sure if it can be called a luxury train though. For reference, Palace on Wheels website mentions tariff above INR 5 lacs for 2 persons for a 7 night journey.

I think the pricing is pretty good given that the operator would take care of pretty much everything. Hope to take this up next year.

Also, it's great that the yatra gives a taste of some of the most majestic temples in South India. Hope to someday do a similar 2 weeks tour of temples of South India.

[GrandTourer]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

Going by the theme (religious tours), it is primarily targeted at the retired/elderly folks. But 50% of seats are not be easily accessible to them, because of bunk bed setup:

It would be tough for IRCTC to make money here.

Forget elderly, the moment they said luxury train, these bunk beds/berths had no business being here.
There is a reason backpacking hostels have bunk beds and hotels have proper beds. No one wants to clamber up the bunk bed after having paid a handsome amount of money, elderly or young alike.

This is luxury: https://www.treebo.com/blog/luxury-t...neys-in-india/

Just look at the beds on Royal Rajasthan, or the Dining coach of Maharaja & Golden Chariot. The one here looks like a typical Mughlai Restaurant. It's just a slightly fancy 1 AC. Maybe if they prized it around 25K, they would have a lot of takers seeing that the route it takes is quite interesting, even for the non-religious folks

[kovilkalai]

From the pictures, it looks like IRCTC pretty much dipped into the sleeper class parts bin. The sleeping quarters don't reek of luxury - they look like regular 1AC berths covered in white cloth. Those berths aren't the most comfortable. Hope they take the trouble to improve the cushioning.

[Lalitha Venkat]

Originally Posted by GJ01

I don't see very many "Domestic" Indian public taking this up. Foreigners and NRI / OCI tourists - sure.

I have not travelled on any of these trains, but if anyone else has can you help with a question. In other trains like the Rajdhanis and Shatabdis - there are
Government and Administrative personnel getting on with priority access to the seats (Getting the Tatkal seats allocated, getting seats at the last moment etc). Do these trains also provide such preferential treatment to these guys ?

I feel there is a good portion of Indian NRI's and Indian professionals who earn equal amount like their western counter parts. Most of these guys have families in India who can be the target for such trains. While the working people may not able to take 15-16 days off but they will be able to sponsor their parents and grand parents to do these trips. I am seeing such trends in Chennai, where parents go such trips which cost INR 100 k-150 k to the north of India and cover typical religious places. These type of organized tours are generally a safe options for senior folks when language is a barrier

[neerajku]

There have been a few such luxury trains as rightly pointed out. Almost all of them run on huge losses and have barely any occupancy. They are targeted at well heeled NRIs and wealthy foreigners. Not sure what do they lack that they have never been able to attract enough tourists. May be lack of service culture, not enough value seen and so on. This new one is pretty expensive stuff, vanity of the new railway regime, if I may. Seems to have an an AC3 tier also as snaps show. Hope that is reasonably priced else after the initial enthusiasm people will give up. Organising one ones own may be much cheaper and one can safely say that such luxury and religious tourism seems pradoxialx. But who am I to say so! Each according to his need. For destinations most of them are not very well maintained or tourist friendly so if it is purely a religious tour people will be fine else they will get disappointed if they want a mix of leisure and religion

[84.monsoon]

Although this looks expensive at first sight if you really think about it, 82000 for 16 nights works out to just about 5,000 per day. If this fare also covers meals and sightseeing, this is actually quite a steal. If one were to plan a trip like this using private transport and individual hotel bookings, to cover all these places at a decent level of comfort, it would probably be much more expensive for such a long trip.

[noopster]

I had to take a train recently for an 18 hour journey from Bangalore since Pune airport was closed. Though it was a 2 tier AC lower berth, the journey was uncomfortable and eminently forgettable. Disclaimer: I don't have any romantic sentiment towards train journeys and prefer to fly if I cannot drive.

But it's hard to imagine from these pics that this is a luxury offering- at best it looks like a step or two up from the current first class AC experience. Am also not clear on the ticket prices: is this 82K for 16 nights? Can you break journey along the way and re-board? If not, who in their right mind would want to spend that kind of time on a train?

[saurabh2711]

All others (Deccan Odyssey, Palace on Wheels etc. ) carried Suits, Luxury Suits, Premium suits on sharing basis for majority of rack(s).

This setup mainly contains Sleeper (2-Tier or I saw a three tier as well along with First Class).

Rent is 85K to 1 Lac got 16 days trip, which comes around 6-7/day including meals, travel, accommodation. Which i think is fair enough, considering 5+ lacs for previous "luxury trains" and the length it travels across.

Just to highlight - it accommodates only 156 passengers per trip.

Originally Posted by PearlJam

I think it's high time that the government outsources all these luxury concepts completely to a private agency.

Dear Sir- Why do you want to open pandora's box by suggesting Privatization of Railway (even if its only one train if not few).

Originally Posted by GJ01

These are poster childs of someone high high above - no one asks for a RoI on these.

No Offences sir, while booking ticket on IRCTC - there is a note which clearly says that railways is only able to recover 65% of its cost for trains. So all trains are running on some subsidy or support from the ministry.

I have to agree with the reply from Drive_factor against your post - 80% would never have been introduced.

[Raghu M]

I think the word luxury just crept in. If you look at the per day cost, it is coming to around 5K. With food, accommodation and sightseeing as part of the package, if you ask me, it's a steal. The route is planned, pick up and drops are taken care of, even hotel accommodations (all 3 star and above) in places like Hampi where the train cannot go are taken care of, what else can someone ask for? I think it's a properly priced package. Wouldn't call it a luxury but definitely 3 star package. Good initiative by the govt. as well.

[gopa99]

The timing I presume might not be right as Air conditioned cabins would be ideal for viral infections like Covid to spread. With so many stops and stay at hotels, making the travel covid proof would definitely be a challenge especially when senior citizens are the major target customers here.

[rd18]

So, this train gets curtains , bed linens and pillows while our normal trains are still deprived of them owing to COVID !

Did they just show here that COVID was just an excuse to remove those items along with subsidised fares for elders, forever?

Should have kept the same principle of health and safety in all trains.

17 days in train? Must provide laundry service. Maybe provided at overnight stay hotels. Else how much one can really pack.

[amods]

Great initiative. If not for coronavirus, my parents' seat would already be reserved on it. I hope it continues to run for a long time, so that they can avail the service. Moreover, I'm in my early 30's, and if I had the leaves, I too would be on it.

Considering the places it covers and the whole package, it is a steal at this price point.