Officially entering its 10th year of existence, South India’s only luxury train — Karnataka’s Golden Chariot, in the middle of its run time (October to March), has already had two trip cancellations.
Two trips in the October-November run, both Southern Splendour tours, were called off by the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) owing to poor response. Southern Splendour is one of two trips offered by the Golden Chariot, taking passengers through Chennai, Mahabalipuram, Puducherry, Thanjavur, Madurai, Thiruvananthapuram, Kovalam and Kochi, before returning to Bengaluru.
The other trip is Pride of South, which covers Bengaluru, Kabini, Mysuru, Hassan, Hampi, Badami and Goa. In March last year, the Southern Splendour tour was initially called off citing the Southern Railways’ difficulty in accommodating the train at stations. But it was resumed later.
However, the KSTDC, which had 11 trips the previous season (2016-17), will only make nine this season. These include two trips taken during Dasara and four more scheduled in the near future: January 22, February 5, February 19, and March 5.
On the trips that did take place, the occupancy rate was around 40%, said KSTDC managing director Kumar Pushkar. The average occupancy rate on both tours is around 33%.
The Golden Chariot, which began operations in 2008 as a joint venture between the Karnataka government and the Railway Ministry, has 44 luxury cabins that can accommodate 88 people.
