Updated on Wednesday, July 05, 2006, 00:00 IST

New Delhi, July 05: Buoyed by the growing popularity of the Palace on Wheels trains particularly among foreign tourists, Railways is considering at least half a dozen proposals from private groups, including one from hospitality major the Oberoi chain of hotels, to operate a similar luxury services.

"We are actively considering at least five to six proposals including the one sent by Oberoi Group of Hotels to run Palace on Wheels type trains involving Indian Railways", P K Goel, Managing Director of the IRCTC told reporters.

The Oberoi Group of Hotels sent their proposals to run a Luxury train in Rajasthan and "we hope that it would be finalised within the next two-to-threee months", he said.

Once finalised, Goel said it would be the third such venture in historically and culturally rich Rajasthan.

While the Palace on Wheels has been a big draw among foreign as well as domestic tourists, Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation has already finalised another such scheme for the state circuit.

Oberoi Group of Hotels had expressed its desire about four-to-five months ago to run another Palace on Wheels in Rajasthan, an upgraded version of the existing ones run by Indian Railways and Rajasthan Tourism and Development Corporation, on Delhi-Jaipur-Bharatpur -Agra--Udaipur-Jodhpur sector.

The Hotel Group, according to sources has obtained all the necessary clearances from the state government and is awaiting Indian Railway's green signal to start its project.

Bureau Report