Railways take steps to attract foreign tourists
	14:35 IST

Rajya Sabha In order to attract the foreign tourists, Indian Railways introduced Indrail Pass Scheme in the year 1977 as a tourism promotion meal sure.  These passes are issued to the foreign nationals and Non Resident Indians (NRIs) against payments in the US dollars.  The pass holder is entitled to travel throughout the Indian Railways’ Net work within the period of its validity in a class it is issued for.  Further, Indian Railways also run five luxury tourist trains for tourists including foreign tourists i.e. Palace on Wheels, Heritage on Wheels in Rajasthan sector, Steam Safari Train- the Fairy Queen on Delhi-Alwar sector, Deccan Odyassey in Maharashtra Sector and Mahaparinirvan Express covering places related to Buddhism.  In addition to above, two new luxury tourist trains in Karnataka and Rajasthan may also be launched shortly.  One luxury tourist strain in the Punjab sector has also been approved.  These luxury tourist train facilities are availed by foreign tourists. The total earnings from passenger traffic of the railways is as under (In  Rs. Crore) Railways 2005-06 2006-07 Passenger Earnings 15126 17225 The above figure is inclusive of the earnings from foreign tourists.  However, no separate accountal is kept of earnings from foreign tourists. This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri R.Velu in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha  Sabha today AKS/HK/CK/TR