23 June,2019 08:27 AM IST | Mumbai | Samiksha Mishra
If you, like any 90s kid, has travelled by the Rajdhani Express, then you know the thrill that comes with it. Now the Bombay Charter Train Charter company, which owns a fleet of 24 super-luxury, luxury and semi-luxury trains, is providing customised luxury services on the go, maybe in an aim to bring the romance of train travel back.
"Luxury trains are basically hotels on-the-go. These services are very common internationally, and as Indians get used to the luxury experience, these are necessary. It eliminates all the problems that one faces while planning a trip like accommodation and food and makes the journey a private affair," says Aalok Pandey, CEO of The Bombay train Charter.
For us, it could mean we can now design a train any which way we want. Maybe a train set up like the Orient Express, with a mystery theme? The company aims to try at least. The customisation is so detailed that one can decide the name and the way the train should look from the outside, thus adding to the feel of the event. "Once we were asked to make a collage of posters of family photographs and plaster them all over the outer section of the train.
The family wanted to make it a poster wedding train and well, we made it happen," says Pandey. These luxury trains include comforts of suites, lounges, restaurants, recreation and reading bogies, all with a three to four-star certification, and are available for excursions, destination weddings, birthdays, business meetings and gatherings. "Once the client is onboard, a personal party planner is appointed for the guest, who will take care of everything," says Pandey.
In the time when entertaining is all about pushing the envelope, going back to the times when train travel was commonplace, seems to be the fashionable thing to do. Rajeev Sharma, CEO of a consultant company, who travelled on one of the trains, says the experience was seamless.
"We found the idea of having a whole train personally customised for ourselves very interesting and hence, we decided to take a trip to Gir Forest. Apart from all the customised arrangements, the company also arranged for specific books on wildlife and nature for us to carry with us while we were camping, which made us feel that they actually cared about us. It is these little things that made all the difference and made our family trip intimate and luxurious."
To book an experience, log onto https://bombaytraincharter.com/
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