LUXURY TRAINS OF

THE WORLD

BY-GUHAN IYER

INTRODUCTION

Luxury trains are special trains designed specifically to offer a sumptuous yet elegant train ride, and evoke a strong sense of association as in history, heritage and decadence of a leisure ride.

LUXRY TRAINS IN WORLD

THERE ARE AROUND 25 LUXURY TRAINS IN THE WORLD.IT IS QUITE GOOD FOR INDIA AS WELL BECAUSE INDIA ALSO HAS AROUND 7 LUXURY TRAINS.

LUXURY TRAINS OF INDIA

7 LUXURY TRAINS IN INDIA .-

1.MAHARAJA EXPRESS2.DECCAN ODYSSEY3.FAIRY QUEEN4.PALACE ON WHEELS5.ROYAL ORIENT TRAIN6.ROYAL RAJASTHAN ON

WHEELS7.THE GOLDEN CHARIOT

MAHARAJA EXPRESS:-

MAHARAJAS' DINING

A royal banquet for royal passengers, the Maharajas' Express has two fine dining restaurants that seat 42 persons at a time; and everyone on board dines together. Wines and beer served whilst dining come complimentary, of course. 

FACILITIES:- Maharajas Express is one of the most

avant-garde Indian luxury trains. This Indian luxury train is equipped

with large LCD TV's, DVD players, direct dial phones and Wi-Fi internet. Other modern conveniences on the Maharajas' Express include bar, lounge, restaurants, butlers and valet service among others.

DECCAN ODYSSEY

As the wind whispers through the halo of legends crowning the land of the mighty Marathas, a lone majestic whistle blows its salutation of honour as it gracefully traverses this land of fantastic fantasy. Welcome to the mesmerizing Maharashtra experience aboard the luxurious DECCAN ODYSSEY. 

Cont..

The Deccan Odyssey rail has 21 coaches out of which 11 are passenger cars with 4 coups each. There are 2 Presidential Suite Cars with 2 coupes each car. The train also has a conference car and two restaurant cars. There is also a lounge/bar car and one surprising addition is a Spa Car. 

FACILITIES

•Library•Bar•Channel Music•Ayurvedic Massage Centre•Steam Bath•Gymnasium•Beauty Parlour•Business Centre•Special Suite for Physically challenged•Fully loaded mini pantry in each coach•Telephone in each saloon•Television in each coach•Plasma TV in Lounge Car•PA System/ 6 Channel Music System

 

CONT…

The route starts in Mumbai and travels to Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Goa, Belgaum,Kolhapur, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Ajanta-Ellora and then back toMumbai.

FAIRY QUEEN (locomotive)

The Fairy Queen, built in 1855, is the world's oldest steam locomotive in regular operation today, plying between New Delhi to Alwar in India. The locomotive was certified by the Guinness Book of Records to be the oldest operational locomotive after the Rajasthan government invoked it in 2004 to lug a deluxe train in order to boost tourism in the area.

Cont...

The Fairy Queen has a 60-seater air-conditioned chair car specially designed with a large glass window from where you can have a frontal view of the Locomotive, besides there is a well maintained pantry car for on board catering. 

PALACE ON WHEELS

The Palace on Wheels is a luxury tourist train. It was launched by the Indian Railways to promote tourism in Rajasthan, and has been highly popular since its launch

The train departs from New Delhi and during its eight day journey, travels around Rajasthan with stops in Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Sawai Madhopur, Chittaurgarh, Udaipur, Bharatpur, and Agra.

HISTORY

The Palace on Wheels was started on January 26, India's Republic Day, in 1982

The concept of the Palace on Wheels was derived from the royal background of the coaches, which were originally meant to be the personal railway coaches of the erstwhile rulers of the princely states of Rajputana, Gujarat, the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Viceroy of British India.

FACILITIES

There are 14 coaches in the train. Each of them is named after former Rajput states and matches the aesthetics and interiors of the royal past. Facilities include a bar with the choicest Indian and international spirits, a lounge with a good collection of books, and a television and DVD player.

Cabins are air-conditioned with twin beds, DTH television, channel music, intercom, and attached toilets running hot and cold water.

The train has two restaurants, "The Maharaja" and "The Maharani", with a Rajasthani ambience and serving continental, Chinese, Indian and Rajasthani cuisines.

ROYAL ORIENT

The Royal Orient Train is an Indian luxury tourism train that runs between Gujarat andRajasthan, covering important tourist locations in the two states.

The Royal Orient offers a 7-day/8-night package that covers important heritage tourist locations in Rajasthan and Gujarat. The train starts from Delhi Cantonment station and has stops at Chittorgarh, Jaipur, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Mehsana, Junagarh, Veraval, Sasangi, Ahmedpur,Mandvi, Palitana and Sarkhej.

HISTORY

The train started in 1994-95 as a joint venture of the Tourism Corporation of Gujarat and the Indian Railways. The livery follows a blue scheme to differentiate it from the Palace on Wheels.

FACILITIES

There are 13 coaches in the train, named after erstwhile kingdoms of Rajputana.

The Royal Orient train also has a bar on board, as well as a lounge in every coach where passengers can read books and magazines, watch television, listen to music and interact with other passengers.

Other facilities include an intercom, channel music, TV, DVD system and a massage-cum-beauty parlor.

ROYAL RAJASTHAN ON WHEELS

The Royal Rajasthan on Wheels is a luxury tourist train run by the Indian Railways. It is modelled on the Palace on Wheels, and follows a similar route through Rajasthan.

HISTORY

The train was launched in January 2009 following the success of the Palace on Wheels, another luxury train that travels through Rajasthan.

THE GOLDEN CHARIOT

The Golden Chariot is a luxury tourist train that connects the important tourist spots in theIndian states of Karnataka and Goa. It is named after the Stone Chariot in the Vitthala Temple at Hampi.The 19 coaches on the train are coloured purple and gold, and sport the logo of a mythological animal with the head of an elephant and a body of a lion.

FACILITIES

The Golden Chariot offers accommodation in 44 cabins in 11 coaches that are named after dynasties that ruled the region: Kadamba, Hoysala, Rashtrakuta, Ganga, Chalukya, Bahamani, Adil Shahi, Sangama, Satavahana, Yadukulaand Vijayanagar. It also has two restaurants, a lounge bar, and conference, gym and spa facilities.It is the only train in India to have onboard Wi-Fi connectivity, and satellite antennae providing live television service in the cabins.

SUGGESTION

WE KNOW THAT LUXURY TRAIN S ARE VERY COSTLY. ONLY RICH PEOPLE CAN AFFORD IT .ON THE OTHER HAND, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR MEDIUM AND LOW CLASS PEOPLE TO ENJOY LUXURY RIDES OF THESE TRAINS.IN INDIA ,MORE THAN 30% PEOPLE ARE BELOW THE POVERTY LINE .SO FOR THEM LUXURY TRAINS ARE ONLY A DREAM.

THERE SHOULD BE ATLEAST ONE LUXURY TRAIN IN EVERY STATE IN THE COUNTRY ,SO THAT EVERYONE CAN HAVE AN ACCESS TO THIS WONDERFUL INVENTION.

"Oriental Railway" redirects here. For the Ottoman railway company.The Orient Express is the name of a long-distance passenger train service originally operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons- List. It ran from 1883 to 2009 and is not to be confused with the Venice-Simplon Orient Express train service, which continues to run.The route and rolling stock of the Orient Express changed many times. Several routes in the past concurrently used the Orient Express name, or slight variants thereof. Although the original Orient Express was simply a normal international railway service, the name has become synonymous with intrigue and luxury travel. The two city names most prominently associated with the Orient Express are Paris and Istanbul, the original endpoints of the timetabled service.In 1977, the Orient Express stopped serving Istanbul. Its immediate successor, a through overnight service from Paris to Vienna, ran for the last time from Paris on Friday, June 8, 2007. After this, the route, still called the "Orient Express", was shortened to start from Strasbourg instead , occasioned by the inauguration of the LGV Est. which affords much shorter travel times from Paris to Strasbourg. The new curtailed service left Strasbourg at 22.20 daily, shortly after the arrival of a TGV from Paris, and was attached at Karlsruhe to the overnight sleeper service from Amsterdam to Vienna.On 14 December 2009, the Orient Express ceased to operate and the route disappeared from European railway timetables, reportedly a "victim of high-speed trains and cut-rate airlines". The Venice-Simplon Orient Express train, a private venture by Orient-Express Hotels using original carriages from the 1920s and 30s, continues to run from London to Venice and to other destinations in Europe, including the original route from Paris to Istanbul.

Blue Train (South Africa)The Blue Train (Afrikaans: Die Bloutrein) travels an approximately 1,600-kilometer (990 mi) journey in South Africa between Pretoria and Cape Town. It is one of the most luxurious train journeys in the world. It boasts butler service, two lounge cars (smoking and non-smoking), an observation car, and carriages with gold-tinted picture windows, in soundproofed, fully carpeted compartments, each featuring its own en-suite(many of which are equipped with a full-sized bathtub).The service is promoted as a "magnificent moving five-star hotel" by its operators, who note that kings and presidents have travelled on it.The Blue Train's origins date back to the Union Limited and Union Express trains which began in 1923, taking passengers from Johannesburg to the ships departing from Cape Town to England. The Union Express introduced luxury features such as a dining saloon in 1933 and air-conditioned carriages in 1939.After a break in service in World War II the service returned in 1946. With the reintroduction of the train, the colloquial "blue train" moniker, a reference to the blue-painted steel carriages introduced in 1937,] was formally adopted as the new name.In 1997 it was refurbished and re-launched.

A train pulled by an NJ2 locomotive travels on the Qingzang railway in 2008.The Qinghai–Tibet railway, Qinghai–Xizang railway or Qingzang railway (simplified Chinese: 青藏铁路 ; traditional Chinese: 青藏鐵路 ; pinyin:Qīngzàng Tiělù; Tibetan: mtsho bod lcags lam མཚོ� ་བོ� ད་ལྕགས་ལམ།), is a high-elevation railway that connects Xining, Qinghai Province, to Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, in People's Republic of China.The length of the railway is 1956 km (1215 mi). Construction of the 815 km (506 mi) section between Xining and Golmud was completed by 1984. The 1142 km (709 mi) section between Golmud and Lhasa was inaugurated on 1 July 2006 by party general secretary, president Hu Jintao: the first two passenger trains were "Qing 1" (Q1) from Golmud to Lhasa, and "Zang 2" (J2) from Lhasa.This railway is the first to connect the Tibet Autonomous Region to any other province, which, due to its elevation and terrain, is the last province-level entity in mainland China to have a railway. Testing of the line and equipment started on 1 May 2006.[2] Passenger trains run from Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou,Shanghai, Xining and Lanzhou.[3]

The line includes the Tanggula Pass, which, at 5,072 m (16,640 feet) above sea level, is the world's highest railway. Tanggula railway stationat 5,068 m (16,627 feet) 33°00′18.50″N 91°38′57.70″E is the world's highest railway station. 1,338-m Fenghuoshan tunnel is the highest rail tunnel in the world at 4,905 m above sea level. The 4,010-m Guanjiao tunnel is the longest tunnel between Xining and Golmod and 3,345-mYangbajing tunnel is the longest tunnel between Golmod and Lhasa. More than 960 km, over 80% of the Golmod-Lhasa section, is at an elevation of more than 4,000 m. There are 675 bridges, totalling 159.88 km, and about 550 km is laid on permafrost.

Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel.The London terminus is St Pancras International, with the other British calling points being at Ebbsfleet International and Ashford Internationalin Kent. Calling points in France are Calais-Fréthun and Lille-Europe, with the main Paris terminus at Gare du Nord. Trains to Belgium terminate at Midi/Zuid station in Brussels. In addition, there are limited services from London to Disneyland Paris at Marne-la-Vallée – Chessy, and to seasonal destinations in southern France.The service is operated by eighteen-coach Class 373/1 trains which run at up to 300 kilometres per hour (186 mph) on a network of high-speed lines. The LGV Nord line in France opened before Eurostar services began in 1994, and newer lines enabling faster journeys were added later—HSL 1 in Belgium and High Speed 1 in southern England. The French and Belgian parts of the network are shared with Paris–BrusselsThalys services and also with TGV trains. In the United Kingdom the two-stage Channel Tunnel Rail Link project was completed on 14 November 2007 and renamed High Speed 1, when the London terminus of Eurostar transferred from Waterloo International to St Pancras International.Eurostar was until 2010 operated jointly by the national railway companies of France and Belgium, SNCF and SNCB, and Eurostar (UK) Ltd(EUKL), a subsidiary of London and Continental Railways (LCR), which also owned the high-speed infrastructure and stations on the British side. Eurostar has become the dominant operator in cross-channel intercity passenger travel on the routes that it operates, carrying more passengers than all airlines combined. Other operators have expressed an interest in starting competing services following deregulation in 2010. On 1 September 2010

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