Low Occupancy likely to lead a Reduction in Bharat Gaurav Train Fare

Overview

Recently, the Train for a Special tour package from Indian Railways was cancelled due to low occupancy. It leads to considering a slash of 20-30 percent in the fare of the Bharat Gaurav Train. The final decision, however, is yet to be made. 

The Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation will likely reduce the fare of trains for the Special tour package. It has been a year since the service was launched. And, the transporter operated just one service of the train on the Ramayana Circuit. The fare for an 18-day tour on the Bharat Gaurav Train for the AC-3 tier is INR 62,000.

Thus, Indian Railways’ officials are considering slashing the price of Bharat Gaurav trains by 20-30%. However, the final decision is yet to be taken on the idea. Earlier, pilgrims used to travel in Bharat Darshan trains which were cheaper than the Bharat Gaurav trains. The cost of an 18-day journey on Bharat Darshan was around INR 27000. This train was discontinued in April 2022.

As per the officials, the IRCTC has raised its concerns to the Railway Board for the issues with the Bharat Gaurav Trains and loss of revenue due to low occupancy, as the fare was too high. Hence, the two pre-scheduled journeys, Bharat Gaurav Special Shri Jagannath Yatra Rail Tour and Ramayana Circuit Bharat Gaurav train were cancelled. 

The idea behind launching this train was to provide a push to Domestic Tourism using better quality coaches and tour packages. But, for an average middle-class pilgrim, the fares were too high. And, because of such high fare, it is also reflected as a “Luxury Brand.

However, after reviewing the status of Bharat Gaurav Trains, the Railway Board has finally approved using only LHB coaches for the services. So, now the pilgrims have Sleeper and AC-3 Coaches with comfortable berths, better lighting, mobile charging points, and other necessary amenities.