Facilities and Services on board the 'Palace on Wheels' train....

The 'Palace on Wheels' train has 14 passenger coaches which can accomodate 112 persons twin sharing. In the week that pakdokter's group was there, there were only 64 passengers occupying 8 coaches. The train has 2 coaches, The Maharaja and the Maharani Cabins, that serve as the dining cars. There is also another coach that functions as a bar.

Each passenger coach has 4 twin share en-suite cabins. And at one end of each coach is a common lounge for reading or having tea and, on some mornings, breakfast. Each coach is served by 2 butlers who were on duty 24/7 hours. They made sure that the beds were made up every time we left for tours and fresh towels were placed in exchange for the used ones throughout the day. They were also available to make masala or whatever teas or coffees one fancies at any hour of the day. And every night they will check with you what time you wished to be woken up and would knock on your door at wake up time with your preferred tea or coffee as ordered. On some mornings they will prepare breakfast in the little kitchen in the coach itself and have it served in the common lounge. Otherwise breakfasts were served in the dining cabin.

The butlers were also there to direct you to the tour buses every morning and would wait our arrival from the tours and carry our shopping bags when we return from our outings. The butlers were so good, we all felt so pampered' that one day Siti told the butler how she wished to take him home. Prakash, the butler, in return replied " I have been told this every week for the past 15 years by my guests, but I am still here until today. Nobody has taken me away yet...."

pakdokter and partner

with our butlers, Prakash and Pradeep...

reading at the common lounge...

Segaram being helped down the coach for the morning tour..

breakfast at the coach common lounge...
poori and sambar, toast with jams and butter..
boiled egg or masala omelette or any way you like
masala or ginger tea or coffee....
juice from cans....
(how not to put on weight...!)



afternoon tea and biscuits after return from tour...



the 5 Maharanis all dressed up for dinner...


dinner at the Maharaja Cabin...

two friends we made during the train trip

Indra (left) came from Mauritius

and Vernae is a lawyer from Boston...

the cook and the cabin staff were always attentive to our needs...

Is there anything else that pakdokter would wish for?

Well perhaps a cabin-cum-gym would allow us to do some workout to burn some calories and a spa offerring body and foot massage would be most gratifying especially after a long day walking the forts, castles and palaces....