The train which is carrying some 40 international tourists started its journey from Moscow and has already passed through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
The tourists are from the UK, the US, Australia, South Africa, France, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong, Russia’s Sputnik news agency earlier reported.
A foreign tourist having breakfast on board the “Golden Eagle” luxurious train while in Iran. (Photo by Faradeed.ir)
While in Iran, the train will take the visitors to Iran’s tourism hubs of Kerman, Yazd, Isfahan, and Shiraz. The train is expected in Tehran on 27 November where it will stay for two nights. It will later return to Mashhad and then to Turkmenistan and further on its way back to unwind its 18-day tour.
The main route of the Trans-Siberian Express – which is equipped with a 4 to 5 star hotel service – was always through Russia, the Trans-Siberian route, as well as the Silk Road through Central Asia. It represents the first train from Russia to arrive in Iran in decades.
The Trans-Siberian Express had to change the cars and truck wheels, so they fit the Iranian track which has a different gauge of railways than that of Russia.
Tim Littler, the president of Britain’s Golden Eagle Luxury Trains Limited that operates the railway cruise to Iran, had earlier told Sputnik news agency that the luxurious cruise is not a one-time trip. “This is a real active project that will have a permanent schedule of tours,” Littler had said.
“The luxury train from Moscow to the Persian Odyssey will run on a continuous basis. They will go twice a year. In Iran, the best time to go is in spring and autumn. At other times of the year, it is virtually impossible to conduct tours, as it is either very hot or cold. Therefore, we will travel in October and November and in March and April.”
The Golden Eagle Luxury Trains had already conducted three rail trips to Iran from Europe.
