KOCHI: The Golden Chariot luxury tourist train chugged into the Cochin Harbour Terminus railway station on Thursday, breaking the three-year-long silence that blanketed the heritage station. The train, belonging to the Karnataka tourism department and operated by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, bears historical as well as commercial importance. It was in 2019 that a tourist train last stopped at the station.
The Golden Chariot called at the station as part of its ‘Jewels of South’ tour package. According to an official associated with Golden Chariot, the train makes a trip to Kerala’s tourist destinations once a month..
“The train arrived at the station at 8:30am on Thursday. After breakfast, the tourists went to visit Mattanchery and Fort Kochi besides watching the traditional dance forms of Kerala,” he said.
The train then proceeded to the Kottayam railway station for a sightseeing tour of the Kumarakom backwaters. “The tourists will cruise the backwaters on boats before returning to the train for dinner and then onwards to Bengaluru,” said the official.
According to a railway official, tourists can book a compartment or the whole train for their trip as the train is not used for regular travels. The guest carriages are named after the dynasties which ruled South India over several centuries. Each guest carriage has four cabins with a mix of twins and double beds. The guest cabins are a mix of 13 double-bed cabins, 30 twin-bed cabins and one cabin for the specially-abled. The train has two restaurants -- Ruchi and Nalapaka -- that serve cuisines from all over the world.
The train will be coming to the state in January, February, March, October, November and December next year. A tourist said she paid Rs 3 lakh for the trip. According to an IRCTC official, the rates for the Jewels of the South package are Rs 4,41,000 for a deluxe cabin and Rs 3,30,960 for a single supplement for a trip that lasts six nights and seven days.