Palace
on Wheels is a legend in the annals of
India's travel industry history.
Rajasthan Tourism Development
Corporation Ltd. (RTDC), Indian Railways
and Department of Tourism, Govt. of
India and Rajasthan jointly launched the
Palace on Wheels on 26 January 1982 as a
special heritage tourist train for
providing unique and memorable
experience to the tourists visiting
Rajasthan and Agra.
This
was the meter gauge train comprising of
wooden carving saloons of the erstwhile
rulers of the princely State of
Rajputana, Gujarat, the Nizam of
Hyderabad and the Viceroy of British
India.
In
1991 a new air-conditioned meter gauge
Palace on Wheels was launched making
every attempt to preserve the pristine
and heritage nature of the train.
The
gauge conversion brought another new
air-conditioned broad gauge Palace on
Wheels in 1995 and it has gained
remarkable success and attained world
wide acclaim and popularity including
the PATA Gold Award in 1987. It has been
noted as one of the top ten luxury
trains by media from across the world.
Leading TV channels like BBC, MTV, Zee
TV, National Geographic, MDR of Germany
and many other have covered the train
and aired programmes.
RTDC
and Indian Railways are proud on the
success of the Palace on Wheels which
has paved a path for a launch of new
tourist train- Heritage on Wheels,
on the available meter gauge section in
Rajasthan.
