Guwahati News Desk: Aiming towards giving a boost to the tourism sector in India, the government plans to launch 180 ‘Bharat Gaurav’ trains.
The announcement was made by the Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday.
The minister said that the Railways has identified 3033 coaches for the purpose and has invited applications for taking over the operation of the new train service.
Vaishnaw said, “We’ve allocated over ‘Bharat Gaurav’ trains and 3033 coaches have been identified. We’ll start taking applications from today. We’ve received a good response. Stakeholders will modify and run the train and Railways will help in maintenance, parking and other facilities.”
Further informing that the main purpose of the service is to boost tourism, he added, “This is a completely new segment. This is not a regular train service. ‘Bharat Gaurav’ trains main purpose is to boost tourism and there are many aspects to it.”
The railway minister also informed that these trains might be managed by both the private sector and the IRCTC.
Moreover, stating about the fares for these trains, he said that it would be mostly determined by tour operators, but that the railroads would verify that there were no pricing discrepancies.
Furthermore, the concept of the theme-based trains was recommended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
