If you thought on-board hostesses at your service were only confined to your air-borne travel experience, then this may well change soon.
That’s because the Indian Railways has now planned to extend the similar services to the train passengers.
According to PTI News, Indian trains will soon have its own hostesses who will greet passengers with a rose bud while soft music plays in the background.
The railways, according to the report, is considering rolling out the plan on its Delhi-Agra Gatiman Express, the first train in India to run at a speed of 160 kmph.
Gatiman Express will be launched next month and the Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu is likely to announce special features of the first semi-high speed train in the country when he presents the Rail Budget on February 25.
Among the features of Gatiman Express, it will have a high-power emergency braking system, automatic fire alarm, GPS-based passenger information system and sliding doors in the coaches. There will also be live TV service as part of infotainment.
Like flights, there would be hostesses on the train and catering will also match the standard of airliners, he said.
Since the fare of Gatiman Express will be 25 percent higher than that of Shatabdi Express, the quality of catering is likely to be considerably better.
The menu will consist of both Indian and continental cuisine.
There will be wholewheat upma, mini dosa, Kanjeevaram idli, fresh cut fruits, aloo kulcha with swiss roll, roasted dry fruit and chicken roll. Chicken sausages with Spanish egg white omelette and date walnut slice cakes will also be served in bone china crockery.
A passenger will have to pay Rs 690 for chair car in the fully airconditioned Gatiman Express, while the fare for travelling in Executive Class has been fixed at Rs 1,365.
Equipped with a 5,400 HP electric locomotive, the train will have 12 coaches. While Shatabdi takes 120 minutes to cover the 200 km distance, Gatiman Express proposes to complete the journey in 105 minutes.
Indian Railway plans to roll out such trains on 9 more routes including Kanpur-Delhi, Chandigarh-Delhi, Hyderabad-Chennai, Nagpur-Bilaspur, Goa-Mumbai and Nagpur-Secunderabad.