India embarrassed by ad that puts its capital in Pakistan

An advert for a new luxury train service has embarrassed India's rail ministry by placing the country's capital, New Delhi, inside Pakistan.

Other gaffes made in announcing the inaugural run of the Maharajas' Express placed Kolkata, the Buddhist pilgrimage center of Gaya and the Bandhavgarh Tiger reserve in the Bay of Bengal.

The agency that designed the ad - promising to show passengers "an India like never before!" - amended a version approved by Eastern Railways on March 19, the rail company's spokesman, Samir Goswami, said.



"The agency decided to mark the train route more prominently in the final copy of the advertisement, given to newspapers, without informing us," Mr Goswami said.

The Maharajas' Express, aimed at wealthy tourists, is a joint venture between the rail ministry's Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation and the Indian arm of the international tour operator Cox and Kings.

From its starting point in Kolkata, the train calls on key pilgrimage sites and the Taj Mahal town of Agra before pulling into New Delhi at the end of a seven-night trip. The cost ranges from $1,400 a night for an ordinary suite to $2,500 a night for the presidential suite.