In what could go down as the largest deal by a private player Raj National Express, a subsidary of Shree Raj Travels and Tours, is in the process of acquiring a fleet of as many as 1500 Volvo coaches.

Besides, the company is also in the process of roping in 250 Mercedes Benz coaches and an equal number of Tata Globus coaches.

"In all we are planning to acquire 2,000 coaches in the next two years, which includes about 1,500 Volvo coaches. This would be the largest order in the world in this segment," said Lalit Sheth, chairman and managing director of Raj group.

We would be placing order of 20 coaches at a time, Sheth elaborated.

The cost of one Volvo coach on road touches an estimated Rs 92-95 lakh, Sheth informed.

The cost of a Benz coach is nearly the same as Volvo, according to Sheth.

The company has already acquired 10 Tata Globus coaches which cost about Rs 45 lakh on road.

Raj National Express, commenced its operations last year, having acquired 41 Volvo state-of-art coaches.

"At present we are receiving 20-25 new Volvo buses every month. This will keep increasing over a period of time," said Sheth.

The coaches will be specially designed semi-sleepers with 41 seats instead of the usual 50, he added.

When contacted, Volvo officials were unavailable for comment.

"The Golden Quadrilateral project has paved way for about 24,000 new roads. The need for having good road transport is rising day by day," he said.

The cargo revolution which took place in America and Europe is taking form in India, Sheth said while adding that the motor coaches section in India needs to be organised.

There are about 1000 cities in India with a population over 10 lakh and every such destination requires about 40 coaches.

Bearing this in mind, there is an overall need of 4,000 coaches today, Sheth explained.

Raj Travels is also in the process of tying up with BPCL, HPCL and select branches of SBI for reservations.

Shree Raj Travels and Tours is also set to mark its foray into hotel business by setting up India's tallest hotel at SG Highway in Ahmedabad at an estimated project cost of Rs 350 crore.

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