Palace On Wheels: The Train That Invented Luxury Rail Travel In India

The Palace on Wheels entered service on January 26, 1982, launched as a joint initiative between Indian Railways and the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation, with the explicit aim of promoting tourism in Rajasthan through a rail journey modelled on the personal trains once used by India's former princely states.

After India's independence in 1947, the private carriages once used by the Maharajas, Nizams, and Viceroys of India fell out of regular use, their valuable interiors too costly to maintain within the country's standard passenger rail network. The Palace on Wheels was conceived to revive that experience for modern travellers, with each of its coaches designed as a replica of an original private royal salon and named after one of Rajasthan's princely states, carrying that state's decorative motifs into its interiors.

How The Train Has Evolved

The train began regular operations in October 1982. A new meter-gauge, air-conditioned version was introduced in 1990, comprising 13 saloons, two restaurant-cum-kitchen cars, one bar-cum-lounge car, and four service cars. As Rajasthan's rail network converted to broad gauge, the Palace on Wheels was rebuilt accordingly, and today runs with 14 interconnected saloons, each cabin fitted with its own shower, alongside a lounge, library, bar, and dining cars. The train was relaunched again in August 2009 with entirely new décor, itineraries, and cuisine. Today's configuration includes 36 deluxe cabins, two suite cabins, three super deluxe cabins, and one presidential suite, each inspired by a different Rajasthani dynasty.

The Route And The Recognition

The train's circuit covers New Delhi, Jaipur, Sawai Madhopur, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bharatpur, and Agra, before returning to New Delhi, taking in forts, palaces, lakes, and wildlife reserves across Rajasthan and Agra's Mughal monuments. The Palace on Wheels won the PATA Gold Award in 1987, was voted the world's fourth most luxurious train in 2010, and received the PATWA Award in the Tourist Train category in 2018. It has also inspired a series of successors built on the same template: the Royal Orient, launched in 1994-95 as a joint venture between Indian Railways and the Tourism Corporation of Gujarat, running between Gujarat and Rajasthan, and the Royal Rajasthan on Wheels, launched in January 2009, following a similar Rajasthan-focused route.

What It Costs Today

During peak season, from October to March, the Palace on Wheels is priced at approximately Rs. 51,900 per night for single occupancy, Rs. 39,000 per night for double occupancy, and Rs. 1,08,000 per night for a super deluxe cabin.

More than four decades after its first journey, the Palace on Wheels remains the reference point every subsequent Indian luxury train has been built against, the original argument that a train journey through India could be an occasion in itself, not merely a means of getting somewhere.