Bharat Gaurav Trains

Bharat Gaurav trains in ER

EASTERN RAILWAY ORGANIZES MEETING WITH TOUR OPERATORS TO INTRODUCE “THEME BASED BHARAT GAURAV TRAINS”

To tap the vast tourism potential of India, Indian Railways has planned to introduce the theme based tourist circuit trains ‘Bharat Gaurav’ to showcase the country’s rich history & heritage. The meeting was organized with tour operators on theme based ‘Bharat Gaurav’ trains over ER on 8.12.2021.

Shri Soumitra Majumdar, Principal Chief Commercial Manager, Eastern Railway and Shri Amitava Mukherjee, CCM / PM and other senior officers from Eastern Railway side and eight (8) tour operators / service providers participated in the meeting.

Shri Majumdar informed the operators regarding the advantages of this scheme. Various potential themes & circuits like Buddhist Circuit, National Park Circuit, Rajasthan Circuit, South India Circuit were discussed. He expressed the hope that the new scheme of the Railway would be a success. Some important points have been highlighted to the tour operators. Bharat Gaurav trains will run with ICF coaches or service providers can also procure new coaches or bare shelf directly from production units of Indian Railways. The minimum number of coaches will be 14 & maximum is 20 coaches including 2 SLR. Minimum hiring period of Bharat Gaurav trains will be for two years and the maximum period up to the residual codal life of the coaches. In order to ensure highest degree of punctuality of ‘Bharat Gaurav’ trains, it has been decided to accord these tourist trains priority at par with fastest mail / express trains in respective routes.

He further stated that interior / exterior decoration can be done as per party’s choice and cost. In that case only stripping charges will be borne by the Railways. Party can change the carrying capacity of a coach as per their own choice, but the total number of berths should not cross the maximum permissible limit of that particular type of coach. Shri Soumitra Majumdar also pointed out that party can use the whole body (interior / exterior) of the train for advertising purposes / Branding Rights which will give them additional earnings.

Tour operators will have the flexibility to decide the theme, tour packages & cost and will have the liberty to offer all inclusive packages to the tourists including rail travel, hotel accommodation, site seeing etc. Tour operators can apply for registration online.

A customer support unit will also be established under Commercial Department of the concerned Zonal Railway Headquarters. It may be noted that two maintenance staff will be deputed on the train for each trip for attending to unusual occurrences & maintenance related issues during the journey and no extra charge shall be levied for these staff.

Bharat Gaurav trains in ECoR

ECoR ORGANIZES MEETING WITH TOUR & TRAVEL OPERATORS FOR LAUNCHING BHARAT GAURAV TRAINS:

Indian Railway has launched “Bharat Gaurav Trains” policy recently in the last week of November 2021. The objective of the policy is to showcase India’s rich cultural heritage and magnificent historical places to the people of India and the world by operating theme based Tourist Circuit Trains called “Bharat Gaurav Trains.”

A meeting was organized through Video Conference by East Coast Railway on 7th December, 2021 where Tour & Travel operators from Odisha and Andhra Pradesh area participated. Sri P. C. Sahu Chief Commercial Manager (Passenger Marketing) briefly explained the salient features of the policy. Meeting was also attended by Sri J. P. Mishra, Chief Passenger Transportation Manager & Dy. Chief Mechanical Engineer (Coaching).

“Under this scheme, registered Service Providers shall be offered rake under “Right to Use” model by Indian Railway (IR) for operations of Bharat Gaurav Trains. Service providers will have the flexibility to decide the themes, tour packages and cost and also have the liberty to offer all inclusive packages to the tourists including Rail Travel, hotel accommodation, sightseeing etc.

Interested Service provider can apply online registration www.indianrailways.gov.inunder “Bharat Gaurav Trains”. Private operators will be offered the coaches for a period of minimum two years and maximum up to residual codal life of the coaches. “Bharat Gaurav” trains will have minimum 14 coaches and maximum 20 coaches with 2 SLR (Seating-cum-Luggage coach). The service providers can decorate the interior and exterior of the trains and can earn from third party advertisements & branding of the train. The service provider can use the SLR portion of the train for carrying luggage. Each “Bharat Gaurav train” will bear a unique number and will be given priority at par with other mail/express trains.

East Coast Railway has set up a Customer Support Unit for prompt redressal of issues of the service providers & Tour operators.

Source: https://eastcoastrail.indianrailways.gov.in/

Central Railway Holds a meeting on Bharat Gaurav Trains with service providers

Central Railway organised a meeting to promote Bharat Gaurav Trains with prominent service providers. A presentation was made to familiarise the service providers. Process of registration was also explained to them with the key features of the scheme.

Shri Mani Jit Singh, Principal Chief Commercial Manager, presided over the meeting and Ms. Ity Pandey, Chief Commercial Manager (Passenger Services) gave the presentation.

The service providers included the Department of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra, Akbar Travels, Thomas Cook, Veena World and Kesari Tours Pvt. Ltd. They have shown keen interest and enthusiasm. Discussions ranged from the type of itinerary to the time taken to refurbish coaches. A sample of the tentative cost that would be incurred for a 14 coach train up to 500 km was also shared with the service providers for them to work on other modalities.

The Ministry of Railways have announced the operation of theme based Bharat Gaurav Trains to showcase India’s rich cultural heritage and magnificent historical places to the people of India and the world as a part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

Source: https://cr.indianrailways.gov.in/

Bharat Gaurav trains in SWR

South Western Railway is happy to be a part of Indian Railways initiative of “Bharat Gaurav Trains” a theme- based Tourist Circuit trains to showcase India’s rich cultural heritage and magnificent historical places to the people of India and the world.

Indian Railway aims to leverage the core strengths of the professionals of the tourism sector to run theme-based trains to tap the vast tourist potential of India. Registered service providers shall be offered rakes under “Right to Use” Model by Indian Railway for operations of Bharat Gaurav Trains. Option of procurement of new coaches directly from production units through NRC (Non-Railway Customer) plan is also available. Flexibility to decide the business model including themes, routes, itinerary, tariff and other attributes connected with this model. Any Individual, Partnership Firm, Company, Society, Trust, Joint Ventures and Consortium are eligible to be a part of this new business opportunity.

Under ‘Right to Use’ model one can own a rake for a minimum of 2 years and the maximum period is based on the residual period of coaches.

This theme – based Bharat Gaurav Trains bring new business opportunities to private tour operators to be part of Indian Railways effort to showcase India’s rich heritage to the people. Interested stakeholders can register on the website www.indianrailways.gov.inunder “Bharat Gaurav Trains” link.

For any further information and queries, please contact

Customer Support Unit(CSU) / SWR,

PCCM Office, 2nd Floor, West Wing, Rail Soudha, Gadag Road, Hubli-580020.

Contact Number: 97319 77955, 99011 32263

e-mail: bharatgauravtrainsswr@gmail.com

Source: https://swr.indianrailways.gov.in/

South Central Railway to Introduce Bharat Gaurav Trains

Theme based trains can be run by private players covering important historical, cultural heritage and pilgrimage destinations

As per the directions given by the Ministry of Railways, South Central Railway is ready to introduce theme-based tourist circuit trains namely “Bharat Gaurav” Trains, which will be operated by private players. These trains are introduced with a view to showcase the India’s rich cultural heritage, magnificent historical places and important pilgrimage destinations to the people of India, in particular and the world in general, which will help in boosting the tourism sector in India besides providing a hassle free transportation facility to the rail users.

Any Private entity including individual, Partnership Firm, Company, Joint Ventures, etc can participate in this initiative. To give flexibility, the Private players have been given the option of deciding their business model for operating Bharat Gaurav Trains including themes, routes, itinerary, tariff and other attributes connected with the model.

Any interested participant can register through online facility at www. Indianrailways.gov.in, which will be processed within time-bound span of 10 working days. The Registered Service Providers have the option placing the demand for rakes as per their requirement (minimum of 14 coaches and maximum of 20 Coaches). For utilisation of Railways Infrastructure and Rolling Stock, the Service Provider would be charged for Right to Use Charges, Fixed and Variable Haulage Charges, Stabling Charges as per clear-cut policy guidelines. These trains will be treated on par with Mail/express Trains.

In fact, in addition to giving flexibility of deciding their own Business Model, the Service Provider will also have the right towards Branding of Trains as well as making Third Party Advertising both inside and outside of the Coaches. Minor modification to the interior of the Coaches is also permitted within the safety protocols. In case of any further queries, interested Service Provider may contact Shri. R. Sudarshan, Chief Commercial Manager (Passenger Services), SCR at Rail Nilayam or email to: bharatgauravtrainsscr@gmail.com .

All requests by the Service Provider would be processed in a time-bound manner for early resumption of Service. In fact, a Customer Support Unit has been established at SCR Zonal Headquarters level for Easing the Engagement with the Customers and to support the interested Service Provider with issues like timely response timely allotment of Coaches, Maintaining the condition of Coaches, etc.

Shri. Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, SCR appeals to the Service Providers to utilise the opportunity to take up the task of running the theme based tourist circuit trains “Bharat Gaurav”, as it will be a win-win situation to all – Railways, Private Participants as well as the Customers. He observed that SCR has many locations over its network which has rich cultural heritage, magnificent historical places and important pilgrimage destinations which can be connected by the Bharat Gaurav Trains for Passengers benefit.

Source: https://scr.indianrailways.gov.in/