Palace on Wheels cancelled for 30 March for want of tourists

The Palace on Wheels (POW) is a prestigious train and meant basically for foreign tourists to allow them to experience the luxuries usually associated the Kings. It has been in operation non-stop since 1982 and, was never cancelled even during the global recession of 2007-09. But - the brake has been applied and it not leave on 30 March 2016 because there was not a single booking!!
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 30 March 2016.

This will be the first time in its 34-year history that the queen of India's heritage trains will skip a trip for want of passengers. Railway Minister should investigate and ensure that such dramatic stoppages do not happen frequently because such words travel too fast for comfort and would harm our tourism potentials.
Incidentally, the Palace on Wheels (POW) is the first and oldest of the elite group of locomotives, and has always been popular among tourists. It operates every season from September to April but, 30 March is now the black letter day when it had to be cancelled for want of tourists.
There were only eight tourists who traveled to Jaipur on the POW on its previous trip, on Holi. POW has accommodation for 104, and it needs at least 25 passengers to be profitable.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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