Golden Chariot could roll out profit this season

Bengaluru: Once considered the white elephant of Karnataka tourism given the huge maintenance and low occupancy rate on most trips, the Golden Chariot, the state’s only luxury train, looks good to make a profit this season. It’ll be the first year out of the red since the train was first flagged off in 2008. The train’s 18 coaches have seen low revenue over seven years of operations. This season could be the turning point, say officials of the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation which runs the train. Their calculated approach made it possible, say top officials. This season, between October 2014 and March 2015, the train will finish 25 trips, more than trips in any year. Each trip has ferried a good number of passengers, said officials who declined to share the exact figures. Ahead of the season, which started last September, a KSTDC team was vested with a task -- carry out a survey in the international market. The objective was to find out the preferred dates of international tourists to India to ensure there are enough trips around that time. “International tourists are our primary target audience. We decided to do a scientific survey to check their preferred dates of travel and this worked to our advantage,” said Harsha PS, managing director, KSTDC. Accordingly, the festive seasons of October and December 2014 saw the train run four and five trips respectively (both routes combined compared to its average of two trips in a month. This season wraps up in March 2015.The Golden Chariot has not reaped riches for KSTDC, with the luxury train bringing in revenue way short of the Rs 60-lakh mark per trip needed to break even. In its first year, it raked in handsome returns with 31 trips. The subsequent years saw the trips nosedive to 26 in 2009-10 and 19 in 2010-11. The following years too failed to get an encouraging response from tourists. Trips this season* Golden Chariot runs on two routes – Southern Splendour and Pride of the South * Southern Splendour did one trip in October, two in November and three in December 2014. In 2015, it did two trips, will do two each in February and March * Pride of the South did three trips in October, two in November and two in December last year. In January 2015, it did two trips, will do two each in February and March Haulage chargesA big deterrent in making profits has been the haulage charge KSTDC has to pay the Indian Railways, said KSTDC sources. While it was Rs 23 lakh per trip in 2008, a rebate was announced after three months and the amount came down to Rs 18 lakh. After a year, the charge was revised to Rs 35 lakh per trip. “Talks have been initiated at the central government level for a reduction in haulage charge. If it’s cleared, we may get better returns than expected,” said Harsha PS.