HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh government is not ready to give up on the ‘Southern Splendor’ luxury train project though the Centre and the Ministry of Railways have been sitting on the proposal for close to a decade now.
The state government is ready to rope in the Railways or its arm Indian Railway Catering Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), as a partner in the project so as to keep it moving, state tourism department officials said.
“The proposed project – modeled on the famed ‘Palace on Wheels’ – has not been shelved,” they said, adding we have made our point to the central government and Ministry of Railways also and they have to revert back.
“We have proposed that we will take it up as a package through a sort of a MoU between Railways and IRCTC…instead of tourism department alone taking up the burden of running this. We have communicated this to the Railways and are awaiting a response,” a senior tourism department official told PTI.
He said that the department has given its view saying that in the present scheme of things they will not be able to take it up. “But if the railway department through IRCTC comes on board then we are willing to extend it in our state.”
Explaining the problems, he said the Railways have put lot of haulage charges in operating it.
“For example, Karnataka government which is running the luxury train ‘Golden Chariot’…there is a heavy burden of the haulage charges by the railways on this particular package, thereby making this not a very viable option,” he said.
Karnataka tourism is putting in a lot of money to run this and it has become unviable for them, he added. The 14-coach luxury train project was conceived in 2005 for promotion of tourism not only in Andhra Pradesh but also in other southern states with Hyderabad as the hub.
The Centre gave its clearance for the Rs 50 crore project on May 17, 2006 and the train was expected to hit the tracks in 2008. The Centre had also agreed to share Rs 10 crore out of the project cost while the balance was to be borne by the state.
With bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, the proposed train project will cover both Telangana and the residuary Andhra Pradesh and other southern states, the official added. -PTI
