Golden Chariot Express- Explore the South in Style

 

 

 

 Golden Chariot Express- Explore the South in Style

 

Indian Railways (IR) is the lifeline of the nation, playing a singular role in facilitating a balanced and inclusive socio-economic development of the country. It is a gargantuan organisation, acting as a truss and moor in a diverse and varied country like ours.

With more than 66,000kms of network, the organisation transports over 23 million passengers every day single day, apart from carrying 3 million tons of cargo over a staggering 23,000kms crisscrossing the swathes of the land.

Certainly the tourist map of India would be patchy without IR fostering and nurturing tourism in the country. Espousing tourism has been uppermost on the agenda of the Rail Bhavan mandarins. Luxury trains have been providing customised services in the shape of modish and decorous tourist trains along with specialised facilities on board and at stations of tourist gravity.

The fabled Golden Chariot Express is a luxury tourist train which concatenates the states south of the Vindhyas. This was a path breaking move by IR as hitherto the seminal centrepieces of tourism planning in India centred on the Jaipur-Agra-Bharatpur sector, the Himalayas and a few hill stations like Udhagamandalam and Kodaikanal thrown in for good measure. And yes, the beaches of Goa beckoned people from across the globe.

The Golden Chariot Express rediscovers the history, pomp and grandeur of the states of Karnataka, Goa, Kerala & Tamil Nadu as well as Pondicherry. Travellers have a choice of two iterinaries to pick from. 

Only a miniscule number of people are aware that the train is christened after the iconic Stone Chariot in the Vitthala Temple at Hampi. Hampi was the centrepiece of the legendary and formidable Vijayanagara Empire and produced exalted emperors like Krishnadevaraya, Harihara and Bukka.

The 19 coaches on the train are coloured purple and gold, and captivatingly sport the logo of a mythical animal with the head of an elephant and body of a lion. 

The Golden Chariot operates between the months of October–March when the weather in the south is salubrious. It chugs out of Bangalore every Monday and had its maiden commercial run on 10 March, 2008. The train is run by the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) in alliance with The Maple Group which has been tasked with the hospitality services on the train. The Memorandum of Understanding between the State Tourism Board and the Indian Railways was inked in 2002.

Soon the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) was hypothecated the task of giving shape to this train. Around 900 layouts were prepared by a plethora of engineers before the design was frozen.

Architect Kusum Pendse along with 200 carpenters worked arduously to complete the designs of these railway coaches. The process bore fruit after a period of four months. The sweat, toil and imagination emanated on 23 January, 2008 and the Golden Chariot Express was unveiled on the tracks, commemorating the golden jubilee celebrations of Karnataka. Former President of India, Pratibha Devisingh Patil unveiled the train at Yeshwanthpur Railway Station, Bangalore. All those connected with this imaginative project heaved a sigh of relief on 10 March, 2008, when The Golden Chariot chugged out on its maiden commercial journey from Bangalore to Goa.

This propertied and opulent train was feted with the title of “Asia's Leading Luxury Train” at World Travel Awards in 2013.

The Golden Chariot provides accommodation in 44 cabins spread over 19 coaches which are named after the fabled dynasties that ruled the region: Kadamba, Hoysala, Rashtrakuta, Ganga, Chalukya, Bahamani, Adil Shahi, Sangama, Satavahana, Yadukula and Vijayanagara.

This upmarket train has two restaurants, a lounge bar, a conference hall and a gym besides spa facilities. Onboard internet connectivity is offered via a USB-stick, and satellite antennae providing live television service is available in all the cabins.

The Golden Chariot offers 2 itineraries to prospective tourists, baptised as the “Pride of the South” and “Splendour of the South”.

Pride of the South

The Pride of the South tour provides a 7 nights and 8 days itinerary during which several tourist places in Karnataka are covered. The destinations covered include Bengaluru (the Silicon City, also known for Cubbon Park and the Art of Living Centre), followed by the historic city of Mysuru (famed for talismanic Dussera festival and Chamundeswari Temple). Visitors are thereafter exposed to the ferocious tigers gnarling in their natural habitat at a tiger sanctuary at the Nagerhole National Park, followed by Hassan (known for the Hasanamba Temple), Belur (the epicentre of Hoysala architecture) and Halebidu (which hosts the Hoysalasewara Temple, the Kedarareswara Temple and a few Jain temples). On day five places of historical importance in Karnataka like Aihole, Pattadakal and Badami are discovered. The final day is reserved for the wondrous beaches, churches and forts of Goa and the opulent train chugs back to base camp at Bangalore.

Splendour of the South

The Splendour of the South tour traverses tourist places across three South Indian states. During this 7 nights and 8 days itinerary, various tourist and religious places of interest in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry are explored.

The journey spans  Bangalore, Chennai, Puducherry (where Sri Aurobindo attained enlightenment and is famous for the Aurobindo Ashram apart from French settlements of the yore), the majestic Brihadeswara Temple at Thanjavur, followed by the venerable Madurai Meenakshi Temple, the pristine, undiscovered beaches of  Thiruvananthapuram, Alleppey (exemplary for its boat rides in the backwaters of Kerala) and finally Kochi, the original melting pot of Jewish, Hindu, Christian and Islamic religions and ethos. The pilgrimage ends back at Bangalore.

The twin legs of this amazing journey have remarkable heterogeneity to offer. One recalls the polymath French novelist Gustav Flaubert, who was to write, “Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.”  So grab your chance!

 

 

 

8. The Majesty of the Fairy Queen

The Gatiman Express, plying between New Delhi and Jhansi -clocking a speed of 150 kmph- is touted as the fasted train in the country.  The mind resonates with images of Usain Bolt scorching the tracks.

About a year back, T-18, christened Vande Bharat connected New Delhi and the ancient town of Varanasi at a breathtaking pace of 130 kpmh. These epoch-making events are precursors to the Bullet Train that is yet to make a foray in the Indian Railways’ landscape. But as the estimable thinker and novelist Victor Hugo wrote, “No one can stop an idea whose time has come.”

IR has always been a customer centric organisation and over the years metamorphosed itself to etch multitudinous memories in the cranny corners of our minds, be it summer vacation trips or school excursions. It has introduced transformational services to attract foreign tourists and propertied Indians to unearth India, travelling on luxury trains. The opulent Fairy Queen is yet another jewel in the crown.

The Fairy Queen, also known as the East Indian Railway Nr. 22, is an 1855-built steam locomotive, which was refurbished by the Loco Works Perambur, Chennai in 1997 and housed at the Rewari Railway Heritage Museum.

The locomotive is steeped in history. It was constructed by Kitson, Thompson and Hewitson at Leeds, England, in the year 1855 and was despatched to Kolkata, then known as Calcutta.

Upon arrival, it was given a fleet number “22” by its owner, the East Indian Railway Company and was named 1895. Initially, this locomotive was deployed to haul light mail trains in West Bengal, operating between Howrah and Raniganj. During the Mutiny of 1857 it hauled the armies of the company to quell the attempted coup d’etat. After playing an exigent role, the locomotive was consigned to line construction duty in Bihar, where it served until 1909.

Thereafter the Fairy Queen spent the next 34 years on a pedestal outside Howrah station in isolation and certainly must have wondered its fate and future.

In the year 1943, the locomotive was moved to the Railway Zonal Training School at Chandausi, in Uttar Pradesh, where it served as an object of curiosity for several of the probationers.

A number of similar locomotives were built around the same time as the Fairy Queen. Some were supplied by Kitson, Thompson and Hewitson and others were built by Stothert, Slaughter and Company of Bristol.

It is noteworthy to mention that Stothert-built Express, has been preserved at the Jamalpur Locomotive Workshop, in Bihar, since 1901. The inscription on the Express' pedestal claims that it was the first locomotive operate between Howrah and Raniganj and was numbered “21” by the honchos of East India Company. This locomotive too was resuscitated the by Loco Works Perambur, making it fit for running in 201. It a contender for the title of the world's oldest operating steam locomotive. Express EIR 21 currently runs on different divisions of Southern Railway on weekends. 

The Fairy Queen is a coal-fired engine capable generating a maximum speed of 40 kmph.

The Indian government bestowed heritage status on the the Fairy Queen in 1972, rendering it as a national treasure. It was revived from the obscure environs of Chandausi and provided a special spot in the newly built National Rail Museum at Chanakyapuri, in New Delhi.

The stupendous success of the Palace on Wheels triggered the imagination of railway officials to exploit the inherent potential of this locomotive. It was restored to its full working order in 1997, in preparation for its first mainline journey in 88 years!

The two-day excursion on the menu has the train plying 143 kilometres from New Delhi to Alwar in Rajasthan, with passengers spending the night at the Sariska Tiger Reserve. The steely inanimate beast transports humans to encounter the animate one! 

The locomotive hauls a carriage capable of transporting 60 passengers. A service car holding a generator and compressor and a pantry car make up the rest of the convoy.

The operation was repeated between December and February in the following years. It was certified by the Guinness Book of Records in 1998 as the world's oldest steam locomotive undertaking regular operation.

The following year, the train received the National Tourism Award for executing a pioneering and innovative tourism project from Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then Prime Minister of India.

Palace on Wheels was the trail blazer, and soon several luxury trains have mushroomed in the country. The Fairy Queen has successfully attracted tourists from across India and abroad and earned precious revenue for the country and has put Alwar and the Sariska Tiger Sanctuary on the tourist map which is no mean feat.

“It is always sad to leave a place to which one knows one will never return. Such are the melancholies du voyage: perhaps they are one of the most rewarding things about travelling,” writes the eminent traveller Gustave Flaubert.