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Shubhra Tandon

Mumbai, Nov. 3 Indians will no longer need to exchange rupees for euros to book rail tickets in Germany.

Deutsche Bahn, the German national rail company, is facilitating purchase of its products – point-to-point tickets and German Rail Pass – in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata through its passenger services arm, DB Bahn.

These products can be bought through Germantours offices in the four cities through an online booking system. The pass can also be booked through Germantours’ portal. There are offers available to explore the rest of Europe as well, with connections to 13 countries from Germany.

“A German Rail Pass for 10 days would cost an Indian customer Rs 1,500 per person per day (€23) and there are options available for four, six, seven days and so on.

“As for point-to-point, a 900-km ride between Frankfurt and London will take a little over five hours and will cost €79 or approximately Rs 5,400,” said Mr Toovey Abraham, General Manager-India and UAE for Germantours.

Talks are under way with several Indian tour operators to offer special tickets from Germany to any country. “We could make special tickets if it makes sense to them (the travellers) so that the journey that was done through coaches can now be done through rail,” he said.

According to conservative estimates, the company is targeting “10,000 passengers using German Rail from India in 2010,” said Mr Abraham.

India is one of the high-growth markets for Germany and has shown a 12 per cent year-on-year increase in 2008, said a statement from Germantours.

“What makes us choose India over other Asian destinations is the increasing number of Indians travelling to Europe as well as the number of flights that operate between India and Germany. There are 54 flights already,” Mr Marc Giesen, Head of International Sales, DB Bahn, told Business Line.

Incidentally, China has only one DB Bahn office, he added.

In the next six months, the company is planning to enter Chennai too. “We are looking for a presence in four more cities in the near future which will include forays into tier-II metros as well,” Mr Abraham said.

Deutsche Bahn transports almost two billion passengers a year.

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