Victoria Hotels and Resorts has received three new railroad passenger cars from Vietnam Railway Corp. in preparation for connecting the carriages to trains operated by the corporation on the route between Hanoi and Lao Cai stations.
The corporation will hand over one more passenger car and one restaurant carriage to Victoria early next month for the French group to link all five cars to the trains running from the capital city to the mountainous province of Lao Cai.
Ronan Bianchi, general manager of Victoria Sapa Resort, told the Daily that the five new cars would be put into service early next month to replace the four Victoria carriages currently tailed to the Hanoi-Lao Cai trains.
Bianchi added that the five carriages with international-standard beds and facilities would be able to accommodate 100 passengers and be used to transport only guests staying at the Victoria Sapa Resort.
The new carriages will be running with the trains from Hanoi and Lao Cai every evening except Saturdays, like the service of the current Victoria railroad cars on the route.
Bianchi did not reveal the total investment of the new carriages built by the corporation and designed by the French company Architel.
However, Victoria managing director Eric Simard told the Daily earlier that the new railroad cars were part of the US$3mil the group had spent this year on renovation and new facilities at its properties in Vietnam.
Guests now occupy 70% of the Victoria Sapa Resort, and Bianchi said some 47% of the guests travel on Victoria Express train carriages between Hanoi and Lao Cai.
Bianchi said the number of passengers would increase in the coming high season in Sapa when room occupancy at the four-star resort reaches 90%.
“The demand for traveling by quality train is really high in Vietnam, especially in the seasons when tourism peaks.”
Stephen Kerslake, catering consultant of the upcoming five-star express train from HCMC to Nha Trang, said in support of Bianchi that a lot of tourists, particularly foreigners, liked to travel by quality train from here to Nha Trang and other tourist attractions in Vietnam.
Kerslake said the HCMC-based advertising company Truong Sinh and Saigon Railway Transport Co. readied to launch the 5-star express train service between the city to the central coastal city of Nha Trang on December 16.
The train will depart HCMC at 6:15am and stop at Thap Cham Station before arriving in Nha Trang at 1:33pm. The return trip is scheduled from Nha Trang at 2:55pm to Thap Cham and arrival in HCMC at 11:18pm.
Tickets are now available for the express tourist train and over 80% of the tickets for the first train have been booked. Kerslake said bookings for the first month were “quite good.”
Return tickets cost VND900,000 for a 5-star Club seat, VND660,000 or a Deluxe seat, and VND440,000 for a Standard seat. Passengers can book tickets at www.5starexpress.com.vn.
The 5-Star Express Train has 10 carriages, including six able to accommodate 328 guests. The other cars will be used for a restaurant, bars, health care services, conferences, exhibitions, foot, hand and head massage, and movie screenings to entertain passengers during the trip.
