In Southern Railway, one of the Registered Service Providers has registered demand for allotment of rake for running theme-based tourist circuit train under the scheme of Bharat Gaurav Trains by duly depositing Security Deposit of Rs. One crore in the form of performance Bank Guarantee. The Registered Service Provider is likely to operate the Circuit tour in the Coimbatore – Shirdi Sector and is likely to commence operation in the month of May 2022. Southern Railway has a total of seven private parties who have registered under the Bharat Gaurav Trains Theme. This is the highest number of registrations across Indian Railways under this scheme.
Indian Railways had launched the operation of theme-based Bharat Gaurav Trains in the month of November 2021. The objective of this theme is to showcase India’s rich cultural heritage and magnificent historical places to the people of India and the world, through Bharat Gaurav Trains. This scheme also 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.
For this purpose of this theme based Bharat Gaurav Trains, Indian Railway has earmarked pool of ICF coaches in various categories namely AC-I, AC-II, AC-III, SL AC chair car, Pantry car, and SLR.
In this Bharat Gaurav Trains, Railways would get the revenue stream in the form of Right to use charges (for the rake),Haulage Charges, Empty haulage charges,stabling charges etc. Registered Service Providers will have the flexibility to decide the business model including themes, Routes, Itinerary, Tariff etc., The Registered Service Provider shall be given the Naming rights, Third party Advertisements rights and Branding rights.
For the purpose of facilitating registered service providers and for smooth implementation of the scheme various committees have been formed at the Railway Board level and Zonal Railway level.
