MTDC Puts Deccan Odyssey On Top Priority

ET&T Staff - Mumbai

After a rather sluggish start, Deccan Odyssey, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation’s (MTDC) luxury train is all set to roll on a fast track. Prithviraj Patil, GM of MTDC, said, "This season (October-February) looks very promising. We have already got three charter enquiries for the entire train, of which one has been confirmed. We have also received a request from UK-based GW Travels to charter the train for a period of 15 days and to run it outside Maharashtra to include cities like Delhi and Kolkata. We are in the process of the discussing the feasibility of the same with the Indian Railways,"

He added, "We did business of one and half crore in the first year itself and are confident to break even in the third year of operations." The luxury train, a joint effort of MTDC, ministry of railways and the state ministry for tourism and built at the cost of Rs 32 crore, was flagged off on January last year.

Aimed at high-end international and domestic tourists, the seven night/eight day journey covers attractions in Maharashtra and Goa like Ganpatipule and Bhatye beach in Ratnagiri, the fort of Jaighad, the sea fort of Sindhudurg and Tarkarli beach, Pune city, Ajanta & Ellora caves and wineries near Nashik. Priced at US $350 per person per night, the luxury train has been under speculation on account of low occupancy.

According to Patil, “MTDC is also working out a plan to run the train during off-season and the monsoon to target the domestic tourists. "We are in talks with the railways to operate the train for three day runs between Mumbai and Aurangabad.”