India’s first private train, under the Bharat Gaurav Scheme, began its journey from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu to Sainagar Shirdi in Maharashtra. The government initiative allows any private operator to lease trains from Indian Railways to run on a theme-based circuit as a special tourism package
The Southern Railway became the first zone in Indian Railways to get the first registered service provider under the ‘Bharat Gaurav’ scheme. @railminindia/Twitter
On Tuesday, India’s first train to be run by a private operator was flagged off from Coimbatore under the ‘Bharat Gaurav’ scheme of the Indian Railways.
The weekly train between Coimbatore North and Shirdi will run from the former station at 6 pm each Tuesday. It will reach Shirdi at 7.25 am on Thursday.
After a one-day halt, the train will resume its journey from Sai Nagar on Friday and reach Coimbatore North on Saturday 12 pm.
According to LiveMint, during the journey from Coimbatore, this Bharat Gaurav Train will stop at Mantralayam Road station for 5 hours to facilitate darshan at Mantralayam temple.
With this, the Southern Railway became the first zone in Indian Railways to get the first registered service provider under the “Bharat Gaurav” scheme, the Ministry of Railways said.
What is the Bharat Gaurav scheme?
According to The Indian Express, the Bharat Gaurav policy, launched by the Railway Ministry in November 2021, allows any operator or service provider, or virtually anyone, to lease trains from Indian Railways to run on a theme-based circuit as a special tourism package.
The tenure of this public-private arrangement is a minimum of two years and maximum of the service life of the coach.
Under the Bharat Gaurav scheme, the operator holds the freedom to decide the route, the halts, the services provided and the tariff.
Indian Railway, along with the IRCTC, runs theme-based tourist trains. Recently, a special tourist train, Shri Ramayana Yatra, was announced that will take pilgrims to places associated with the Hindu epic of Ramayana.
In these packaged tours, the tour operators, IRCTC in this case, organises sightseeing, stay at hotels and stop overs.
The private operators under the Bharat Gaurav scheme also have to offer similar services apart from operating the trains.
According to The Indian Express, anyone can approach Railways to lease the 3033 conventional Integral Coach Factory-design coaches earmarked for this segment.
In fact, if the operator finds it feasible, then it can even purchase rakes from Indian Railway production units and run them.
These trains cannot be run as usual transport trains between an origin and destination.
What the operators can and cannot do
The private operators can decide their own furnishings inside the train and set the interiors as they want. They also get to decide on the journey’s food and entertainment activities.
The operator can also decide the berth composition, however, it cannot alter or dismantle any critical parts of the coach that may impact the train’s safety and operation.
They have the freedom to name the circuit, the train and sell advertisement space inside and outside of the train. The operators are also free to tie up with agencies for business development and logistics.
The Railways, however, has strictly maintained that the operators cannot allow things that are illegal by railway laws. For example, alcohol cannot be served in the trains.
In essence, the private operators will have complete freedom to run the business and develop a business model. The Indian Railways will physically run the trains, maintain them and charge a fee.
The operators will also have to employ their own housekeeping and catering staff.
How expensive is the first Bharat Gaurav train?
The first Bharat Gaurav train from Coimbatore to Shirdi has Sleeper, 3-AC, 2-AC, and 1-AC coaches.
The sleeper class rate is Rs 1,280, and the fares for 3-AC, 2-AC and 1-AC are, respectively, Rs 2,360, Rs 4,820 and Rs 8,190. The bill comes to Rs 2,500, Rs 5,000, Rs 7,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively.
The Shri Ramayana Yatra train will also be run under the Bharat Gaurav scheme from Delhi. It will be launched by IRCTC on 21 June and the journey will cover prominent places associated with Lord Rama.
The all-inclusive tour for the same will start from INR62,370 per person. This includes an 18-day train journey in 3-AC, stays at AC hotels, sight-seeing in buses, travel guides, vegetable meals, travel insurance etc.
With inputs from agencies
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