New Delhi, 25 August. After the renowned Palace on Wheels' stupendous success, Rajasthan's second super-luxury train, christened as Royal Rajasthan on Wheels, will be launched in December. This was announced by the Rajasthan's Minister of State for Tourism, Ms. Usha Punia at in New Delhi on Monday.
Ms. Punia said that the super-luxury train will be a landmark of sorts in team of comfort, luxury and service. It will be jointly operated by Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) and the Railways. The Minister informed that the new train will have two super-deluxe suites, 13 deluxe saloons, 2 restrobars, spa, board room, internet facility etc. Its itinerary will be the same as Palace on Wheels except that it will go to Bikaner instead of Sawai Madhopur. The coaches were being constructed in Chennai and will be in Delhi by October. The train will be officially launched in the first week of December. The estimated profit of the new train, for the full season, will be Rs. 12 crores. The Palace on Wheels, meanwhile, stands fully booked till 2010. This year it will start running from 03 September.
The Minister also informed that there has been over 100% growth in tourist arrivals in four years. The foreign tourist arrival went up from 6.29 lakhs in 2003 to 14.01 lakhs in 2007. Similarly, the arrival of domestic tourists also went up from 125.40 lakhs in 2003 to 259.21 lakhs in 2007. The Minister informed that one in every four tourists coming to India visits Rajasthan.
The Minister further informed that there has been considerable strengthening of infrastructure. Jaipur runway is being extended from 9000 feet to 11,500 feet. The Udaipur airport is to become the second International Airport of Rajasthan.
The Government has taken steps to bridge the gap between the demand and the availability of rooms. She informed that the Department is facilitating tie-ups with heritage properties available with private owners. The inventory of forts is available for development as tourism units.
The Minister said that new tourism unit policy, announced during the resurgent Rajasthan in December last year is proving to be popular. She said that the new policy stands apart for its various concessions like free land conversion, allotment of government land on special reserve price, increase in FAR, etc. This policy includes not only hotels but all tourism units including spas and wellness centers, golf academies, golf course with rooms, camping sites, etc.
The Minister said that some of the new initiatives taken by the departments pertained to introduction of sound and light shows, sports tourism and wellness tourism. 
The Minister highlighted the fact that the State Government had focused on the conservation and restoration of monuments in the past four years. She informed that a sum of Rs. 70 Crores had been spent on the conservation of Monuments in the last four years. Of this amount, Rs. 15 Crores had been spent on Amber Palace, which had now become a living monument. The Minister said that 40 Monuments had been taken up for conservation in the last four years. The number of protected monuments had gone up from 225 to 290. The state had launched an 'adopt a monument scheme' for 14 monuments. This would facilitate the proper maintenance of monuments by private players after they had been restored.
The Albert Hall had been totally renovated at a cost of Rs. 5 crores and had been opened to public on 1 July. The old town hall of Jaipur was also been developed as a museum. The Government had also established Rajasthan Heritage Conservation Institute. For the first time, Ms. Punia informed, that the Digitisation of manuscripts and museum artifacts have been undertaken. The Minister also revealed that the Amber Fort could now be hired for marriages by private parties.