The bi-weekly Duronto (‘Duronto’ more or less means ‘unbridled’) express will depart from Sealdah every Thursday and Sunday and will leave New Delhi every Friday and Monday.

The Duronto train, flagged off by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, will take one and a half hours less that what the Sealdah-Delhi Rajdhani Express train takes to run the distance.

According to Mamata Banerjee, the Sealdah-New Delhi Duronto will run at 130 kms/hour and the journey will take 16 hours and 30 minutes, as against the 18 hours that the Rajdhani express takes.

The next Duronto train, the Howrah- Mumbai Yuba Express, is “almost ready and we will soon have its inaugural run,” she said.

According to a railway official, the speed of Duronto trains will not be more than that of the Rajdhani trains, but Duronto takes less time since it has no commercial stoppages.
The Sealdah-Delhi Duronto has 3 operational stoppages – at Dhanbad, Kanpur and Mughalsarai, for technical reasons – compared to 6 operational plus commercial stoppages for the Sealdah-Delhi Rajdhani Express.

The Sealdah-New Delhi Duronto has a new air-conditioned, economy sleeper coach with 3-tiered side berth, compared to 2-tiered side berths in Rajdhani trains. The Duronto’s AC economy coach can accommodate 81 passengers, as against 72 passengers in the conventional AC 3-tiered side coaches.

The new AC economy class in the Duronto trains, the railway official added, is meant to provide more people with faster, AC-comfort travel at economic rates.

The ticket for Duronto’s air-conditioned economy sleeper coach costs Rs 1,335 – which is Rs 200 less than the Rajdhani train’s AC-coach fare of Rs 1,535. What is more, Duronto’s fare includes meals.

Passengers of Duronto will be served soup – instead of tea and light snacks – soon after the train leaves the Sealdah station at 6.40 p.m. Dinner starts from 7.30 pm.

The dinner menu for the passengers of AC-II, AC-III and AC-III Economic class comprises rice/paratha, dal, chicken/fish, vegetables as well as salad – and ice cream for dessert.
Like on the Rajdhani trains, AC-I passengers will have a variety of items to choose from.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced that 13 more Duronto trains would be on the tracks soon.

While the Sealdah-New Delhi Duronto train has regular coaches with shells made of corten steel, the Chennai-Nizamuddin Duronto will have coaches made of stainless steel. The special stainless-steel bogies have air suspension systems that provide better passenger comfort. Besides, the light-weight stainless-steel shells helps the train run faster.

The inaugural journey of the Sealdah-New Delhi Duronto train, however, has had an unscheduled, unexpected stoppage – and for nearly 30 minutes at that – at Dankuni, about 20 kilometres from Kolkata. The reason: the train’s pantograph got entangled with a kite’s thread hanging from the overhead electric wires at Dankuni. (The pantograph is the gadget that receives electricity from the overhead lines for electric locomotive engines.)

The cast and crew of Bidaai, which is being telecast on Star Plus TV during the weekdays, were in Kerala for 10 days to shoot the honeymoon episodes of the newlywed sisters, who are also the protagonists in this primetime serial. Bidaai, falling in the Hindi general entertainment genre, is the story of two sisters, Sadhna and Ragini. Life is pleasant for Sadhna as she is beautiful but society is harsh on Ragini, who faces a lot more challenges because she is not good-looking.

Filming for the episodes took place in Munnar, Thekkady, Allepey, Kumarakom and Kovalam. Location scenes take in tea plantations, a beach scene and the romantic houseboat in the backwaters. The honeymoon episodes, will be shown over six instalments of 30 minutes each, covering terrestrial and satellite television starting Monday, 23 February on Star Plus channel.

Television viewing is considered the greatest single domestic pastime in India and the influence of visual media combined with a popular series is a ‘pull’ factor for tourism destinations. “We want to raise the profile of Kerala as a honeymoon destination with the domestic market,” said Sivasankar, Director Kerala Tourism.

Kerala’s coast and countryside is a huge part of our appeal as a destination for couples and the honeymoon episodes will  remind viewers of the landscapes that Kerala is so  famous for and motivate them to visit the place” he added.

As man as 75,912,50 domestic tourists visited Kerala in 2008, posting a 14 per cent increase compared to the previous year. A trip on a houseboat and the backwaters of Kerala are the most popular activities for visitors. The houseboat of Kerala was nominated as one of the most perfect places in the world to propose to your love one, by the influential National Geographic Adventure magazine.

Kerala is still one of the most popular destinations for Indian travelers and foreigners – and not just for honeymoons either. However, the economic recession has hit the travel industry in Kerala badly with houseboats often idle and homestays deserted. If things continue lkike this for too long, while it may make it a lot more affordable for tourists form across India, the industry itself may face serious trouble and losses.

The incentives offered under the Visit India 2009 scheme include:

1. One complimentary international air passage for traveling companion

2. One night complimentary stay in the hotel booked by the tourist

3. One complimentary local sightseeing tour in any one city of visit and

4. One complimentary Rural Eco Holiday in the country

This offer is based on providing one service free for every service availed by the tourists in collaboration with Airlines, Hotels and Tour Coordinators.

Airlines like Jet airways, Air India and Kingfisher have partnered with the Tourism ministry for the Visit India scheme. The Hotel Association of India and tour operators affiliated to the IATO (Indian Association of Tour Operators) has also aligned themselves with the ministry.

All member hotels of the Hotel Association of India will offer benefits in one of the following three categories:

1. Stay one night and get the second consecutive night free

2. Stay two nights and get the third consecutive night free

3. Stay three nights and get the fourth consecutive night free

All taxes would be extra and payable by the guest.

Some other hotels like the Select group of Hotels have individually offered incentives under the scheme.

The tourists can avail any one of the incentives independently and are not compelled to go for the complete package.

The Tourism ministry has expected tourist growth to be around 10 million in 2008 but had to settle for a mere growth rate of 5.36% as compared to an increase of 14.5% in 2007.

India’s foreign exchange earnings suffered a 22% dip in 2008 following Mumbai Terror attacks. Hotels reported that 50 per cent of the reservations were cancelled which lead to the government intervention to stabilize this situation. They experienced a negative growth of 2.1 per cent in November 2008.

Few other bailout measures were suggested, for instance grant of deemed export status to the tourism sector, cut in luxury tax and extension of tax holidays for hotels, cut in service tax for tour operators and delinking of hotel projects from real estate projects – but none could be incorporated into the scheme as all these measures required clearance certificates from various ministries.