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Palace on Wheels to run with ‘steam-hauled’ engine after 29 years

Some British tourists wanted to travel in stream engine hauled Palace on Wheels, like it used to be in earlier times. The RTDC officials took the tourist’ request to railway board and the Palace on Wheels with the engine began its journey on Wednesday.

November 28, 2018, 6:23 pm

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Jaipur: After a gap of 29 years, luxury train Palace on Wheels will run with ‘steam hauled’ engine. Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani flagged off the steam-hauled luxury tourist train on Wednesday.

The step to run the Palace on wheels with steam hauled engine was taken by the railway board after receiving a request from some British tourists.

The British tourists wanted to travel in steam engine hauled Palace on Wheels, like it used to be in earlier times. The RTDC officials took the tourist’ request to railway board and the Palace on Wheels with the engine began its journey on Wednesday.

The Northern Railways on their official twitter handle wrote, “Chairman Railway Board Shri Ashwani Lohani flagged off the evocative trip of the steam hauled iconic tourist train ‘Palace on Wheels’ from Delhi Safdarjung railway station to Patel Nagar today”

“Adding to the sparkle & grandeur of ‘Palace on Wheels’ misty vapors of Steam Loco creates a tantalizing spell for tourist passengers of the luxury train this evening. CRB Ashwani Lohani, Rajesh Agarwal Member Rolling Stock, Arun Arora PCME & RN Singh DRM/DLI did the honors” added another tweet.

From the year 1982 to 1989 the luxury tourist train used a double steam engine named ‘Dessert queen’ for operation. After some time, the technology of the steam engine got outdated and was replaced by the Diesel engine.

The energy to operate the train in a steam engine comes from the steam of coal and water. This process is highly expensive and is slow as compared to diesel engine technology. With the advancement, the royal train shifted its gear from old steam hauled engine to new Diesel engine.

Rajasthan tourism officials and foreign tourists requested the northern railways to bring back the old heritage in luxury train Palace on wheels. Railways agreed and installed the iconic steam hauled engine Azad WP 7200 for the journey from Delhi Safdarjung railway station to Patel Nagar. The distance covered will be 20 km.

Read also:  First-ever charter booking for Palace on Wheels: 41 Australian tourists pay Rs 1.30 crore

Read also:  Palace on Wheels (PoW) to start its journey from Sep 5

Read also:  Rajasthan: Heritage Palace on Wheels to start from December 22

First published: November 22, 2018
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