Newstrack

Royal Time Machine luxury coaches on Delhi roads

Inter-city tours in the pipeline

Sanjeev Bhar - New Delhi

In an attempt to provide an exclusive heritage experience in the capital, Royal Time Machine has announced that it will roll out luxury coaches on Delhi roads from the first week of February, 2007.

A la Palace-on-Wheels and Orient Express, the new luxury coach will initially have intra-city tours and later introduce inter-city tours. The company will be a privately-managed venture by two sisters - Shivani and Suparna Chopra. Speaking about the project, Shivani Chopra, co-director of the company, says, "We want business and leisure travellers to the city to experience the city's rich heritage - its cuisine, its architecture and its history - which will be an intrinsic feature of the coach."

The company plans to invest Rs 40 crore over a period of time. For now, it will roll out three 18-20 seater Ashok Leyland coaches. "These coaches will have parallel seating, a kitchen, clinical restrooms, LCD screens that will show documentaries on the city, its history along with onboard multilingual audio system in three popular foreign languages," adds Chopra. The company is set to establish such tours in Agra and Jaipur as well.

The company's co-director, Suparna Chopra, adds, "We have started getting bookings from travel houses/tour operators and hotels, which is encouraging. We plan to tie up with hotels to provide exclusive menu for the coaches." She however refused to disclose any names.