Rlys starts work on budget hotels

The Railways8217; plan to set up 100 budget hotels across the country under the Rail Ratna brand name has started rolling with Indian Railway...

The Railways8217; plan to set up 100 budget hotels across the country under the Rail Ratna brand name has started rolling with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation IRCTC allotting land and built-up property to private players to develop these hotels on a built operate and transfer BOT basis.

While private players like Zoom Royal Orchid Consortium, G L Hotels 038; Pan India Paryatan and Signet Hotels Consortium have already been allotted sites to construct new buildings for these budget hotels at places like Darjeeling, New Jalpaiguri, Lalgarh Bikaner, Sealdah, Rameswaram, Ooty and Jaisalmer. IRCTC is in the process of selecting players to construct new hotels on railway land at Madurai, Vijayawada, Secunderabad, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Tirupati, Kanyakumari, Nagpur, Pune, Agra, Habibganj Bhopal, Jodhpur and Udaipur.

Letters of allotment have already been issued to private players to refurbish four existing Rail Yatri Niwas located at New Delhi, Puri, Ranchi and Howrah. The Taj Group has been selected to refurbish and upgrade the Rail Yatri Niwas at New Delhi.

While the private players constructing the budget hotels will be given a 30-year period to run them, those refurbishing the Rail Yatri Niwas buildings will get to operate them for a 15-year period. In both the cases, the private player will share the revenues with IRCTC. To ensure that the concept is not compromised, IRCTC will regulate the pricing at these hotels.

Poorabiya Express flagged off

NEW DELHI: In a bid to decongest railway stations in New Delhi, Northern Railways have started a new train, Poorabiya Express, between Naya Azadpur and Saharsa railway stations to cater to crowds travelling between Delhi and Bihar. Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav on Friday flagged off the inaugural train at Naya Azadpur. Yadav also renamed the New Azadpur station as Adarsh Nagar Delhi station. Regular operations of the 5279 Saharsa-Adarsh Nagar Delhi Poorabiya Express will commence from January 6, 2007 and of the 5280 Adarsh Nagar Delhi-Saharsa Poorabiya Express from January 7, 2007. 8212; ENS