In its second tourist season now, the heritage train had till December attracted barely 1,400 passengers — including 644 this season — though it has a capacity of 4,500.

In contrast, the Palace on Wheels has full bookings for the next two seasons. 

A joint enterprise of the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation and Indian Railways, the heritage was launched in 2006 with the idea of taking tourists beyond the famous cities the Palace on Wheels already touches.

“The idea was to promote unexplored regions like Shekhawati, which is famous for its elaborately painted havelis, wall frescoes, step wells and temples and is often described as an ‘open art gallery’,” says RTDC managing director Rakesh Saini.

The route, covered over three nights and four days, also includes the black buck sanctuary at Tal Chappar, cities like Bikaner, Gajner, Ramgarh and Mandawa and halts at palaces and forts.

But there have been few takers for the train that charges a traveller Rs 12,500 a night for single occupancy, about half of the tariff of the Palace on Wheels. Double occupancy comes for Rs 17,000 for two — or, Rs 8,500 for each.

The Palace on Wheels charges a traveller Rs 1,54,271 for a week’s trip. 

Last September, the train kept waiting for passengers to kick off the seven-month tourist season. From September 11, it stood idle for 17 days before some tourists — seven, to be precise — finally arrived.

The train’s 14 air-conditioned salons, two mirrored and sparkling dining rooms, Maharaja and Maharani, and the well-stocked bar-cum-lounge have already incurred a maintenance cost of around Rs 2.56 crore since 2006. It has earned around Rs 1.32 crore.

But Saini doesn’t seem worried. “We have been able to break even with 30 per cent increase in tourist traffic this season and also because of no extra operational costs. We are targeting domestic tourists, corporates and mid-markets in Europe and encouraging chartered bookings in a big way.

“On December 31, 2007, we had 68 tourists, all Indians, journeying into the new dawn of 2008,” he says.

“When the Palace on Wheels was launched in 1984, most critics had said it was a niche product and had limited appeal. But its weeklong itinerary covering major tourist attractions in Rajasthan and the Taj Mahal thrown in as a bonus, combined with the royal experience have worked.

“It is still the jewel in the crown of luxury rails in India. Its Rs 1,54,271 per person is not a deterrent and the bookings are full till 2009.”

Saini says the heritage train is only in its second season. So now was a “gestation period” for the train to “pick up” and “run full house”.

“Give us some time,” he says. “The season has not ended.”

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