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Deshmukh asks Switzerland to consider railway in Maharashtra
The Maharashtra government has invited Switzerland's Jungfrau Railways to build and operate holiday trains at Mahableshwar, Matheran and other hill stations in the state.
- By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent
- Published: 23:32 September 26, 2008
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has invited Switzerland's Jungfrau Railways to build and operate holiday trains at Mahableshwar, Matheran and other hill stations in the state.
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, during his visit to Interlaken, Switzerland, invited the Chief Executive Officer of Jungfrau Railways, Urs Kessler, to visit Maharashtra to study the possibilities of setting up a railway system in the hilly areas since the company had the experience and technical capability.
Tourism facilities
He also asked Kessler to explore the upgrading and expansion of tourism facilities in the world-renowned tourism site of Ajanta and Ellora near Aurangabad.
With a large number of Swiss tourists visiting Rajasthan and Kerala, the state, in an effort to attract some of these tourist arrivals, has signed a memorandum of understanding between the government-run Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) and Kuoni Travel India, a travel company, in Zurich.
This is expected to boost tourism in both the state and Switzerland, where several Bollywood filmmakers go for its scenic locales. Through this agreement, the Kuoni Group will help MTDC to create the right infrastructure with higher standards of quality.
Tourism expo
The MTDC also announced the first of its kind travel and tourism event, the Mumbai International Tourism Expo 2010, a prestigious event to be held at the Bombay Exhibition Centre.
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