Rail Tourism   India by rail offers a fascinating odyssey through time and space, cultures and history offering magical glimpses of unity amidst diversity, shrouded in enchanting, mystery colours that captures the heart while soothing the soul. No one offers the multi-dimensional magic of the real India more excitingly than the Indian Railways – the second largest railway system in the world covering around 64,000 km. of track laid across around 7,000 stations, running around 12,000 trains everyday. The convenient, well connected routes offer to the passengers hassle-free tours to some of the most exotic places in the world. Indian Railways is the life line of the nation whether it is for movement of passenger or for goods. The Railways contribute tremendously towards tourism as the prime mode of transport for all kinds of tourists from both domestic and international sector. In addition to offering simple train journeys from point to point to the tourists as well as general public, the Indian Railways offers some exclusive tourist trains as under:   Luxury Tourist Trains Mahaparinirvan Express Bharat Darshan Trains Punj Takht Train Steam train   In addition, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, a Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Railways, provides a large number of specialized tourism products and also facilitate specific tourism requirements. For more details please go to www.railtourismindia.com   Luxury Tourist trains   The Indian Railways operate luxury tourist trains in association with Indian Railway tourism Catering Corporation or State Tourism Corporations.  The major part of operation and maintenance of the trains is undertaken by the Railways while the off-board / on-board services and marketing is done by the respective State Tourism Corporations. Presently, the following trains are in operation and for detailed information regarding the itinerary, days of operation, tariff, and availability, etc. please go to the respective websites as per the link given below.   Palace on Wheels Deccan Odyssey Golden Chariot Royal Rajasthan on Wheels Maharajas’ Express   Mahaparinirvan Express   As the name suggests, it is a special train on a popular Buddhist circuit, operated by Indian Railways in association with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation. It offers an all inclusive one week package covering major destinations related to the life of Lord Buddha like Budhgaya, Rajgir, Nalanda, Varanasi, Sarnath, Kushinagar, Lumbini, Sravasti & Agra,  with flexibility to modify the packages in case of group bookings. While the operation of the train is undertaken by the Railways, the on-board / off-board services, marketing, etc. is managed by Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. For detailed information regarding the itinerary, days of operation, tariff, availability, etc. please go to http://www.railtourismindia.com/buddha   Bharat Darshan Train  The Bharat Darshan trains envisage taking a number of tourists from a particular region and taking them to tourist destinations in other regions of the country at an economic cost. The destinations are mainly of historic, religious and other tourism importance. The trains operate on a number of different itineraries across the country. The itinerary also keeps on changing from time to time. The package includes rail travel, road transfer, meals, accommodation as well as sight seeing and comes at an affordable cost.  While the operation of the train is undertaken by the Railways, the on-board / off-board services, ticketing, etc. is managed by Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. For detailed information regarding the itinerary, days of operation, tariff, availability, etc. please go to www.railtourismindia.com   Punj Takht Train   As an endeavor to facilitate rail travel to important places of Sikh pilgrimage, this train connects the five takhs at Amritsar, Aanadpur Saheb, Bhatinda, Nanded and Patna and offers all inclusive package covering train journey, accommodation, local transport meals etc. at affordable rate. While the operation of the train is undertaken by the Railways, the on-board / off-board services, ticketing, etc. is managed by Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. For detailed information regarding the itinerary, days of operation, tariff, availability, etc. please go to http://www.railtourismindia.com/Trains/BharatDarshan/SpecialTrains.html    Steam Train A Steam train between Delhi to Alwar and back operate fortnightly during the winter months. The operation of the train is undertaken by the Railways; the on-board services, ticketing, etc. is managed by Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation and off-board services at Sariska is managed by Rajasthan Tourism Development corporation. For detailed information regarding the itinerary, days of operation, tariff, availability, etc. please go to http://www.railtourismindia.com/Trains/FairyQueen/FQ001.html