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Indian Railways

Indian Railways, the largest of its kind in the world with a workforce of about 1.5 million employees, can be easily described as the life-line of the nation and its fast growing economy. Safe and hassle and free journey at most affordable price, to almost every nook and corner of India, speaks volumes about the inherent strength of our Railways.

Daily about 13 million passengers benefit directly from this huge net-work of 62,800 route Kms. The last two years have witnessed considerable improvements in various areas including passenger amenities, number of new trains, extension of service and indigenous technology.

A strong tourism strategy with more use of ICT will soon find its place in the system through dedicated tourist trains, rail coaches and regular trains on sectors developed by tour operator and agencies. As part of its long-term strategy towards organisational reforms and restructuring, the Indian Railways (IR) has made serious attempts to induct professionalism into their stream and divest its peripheral areas of operation connected to its core business of transport. The marketing wing of the IR namely the Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) is currently working on certain policies, on accommodating private parties from the travel trade fraternity to participate in their joint ventures to promote tourism in the country. Earlier, the IRCTC had also announced their interest working on JVs with the organised sector of the hospitality industry. This move comes at a time, when the railway authorities have decided to make their presence felt in the tourism scenario as the largest passenger transport company of the country.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited 

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) is a public sector company set up and fully owned by the Ministry of Railways. The IRCTC has been incorporated under the Companies Act 1956,  has its Registered Office at 9th Floor, Bank of Baroda Building, Sansad Marg, New Delhi 110001. This company has been formed to function as an extended arm of the Indian Railways to upgrade, professionalise and manage the catering and hospitality services at stations, on trains and other locations and to promote domestic and international tourism through development of budget hotels, special tour packages, information, commercial publicity and global reservation systems. the objective of upgrading and managing rail catering and hospitality. IRCTC Ltd. goes functional for adequately harnessing the tourism and catering potential, worth Rs 500 crore, that exists on the Indian Railways.A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between IRCTC Ltd. and Indian Railways to this effect on 12th  April,.2002.

Introduction of New Technologies

Railways established their own intra-net 'Railnet'. It envisages networking between Railway Board, Zonal Headquarters, Divisional headquarters, Production Units, Training Centres etc. LAN/WAN is being provided in all Divisional Headquarters to derive full benefits of Railnet.

IRCTC has begun operations in the ticket booking venture. Passengers can now order tickets online by logging into the IRCTC website. The tickets are delivered on their doorstep by IRCTC after verification of the recipient.

Indian Railways' web reservation system, powered by

Services offered by IRCTC on the Internet

• Advance booking in any class, against general and ladies quota, on payment of fare in full for adults and children, a maximum of six berths/seats at a time, for journey between any two stations served by a train subject to distance restrictions in force.
• Booking on payment of concessional fare by senior citizens to all stations mentioned here by any train and in any class.

• General enquiries regarding:
  • Accommodation available for a train/date combination
  • Current Status of reservation position
  • Time table
  • Train fare
  • Trains available between a pair of stations
• Courier delivery of booked tickets.
• Collection of tickets by customers from designated collection centre.

Catering & Tourism

The Union government has decided to keep 100 per cent equity in the proposed Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) for the first three years of its operation as against its earlier plan of offering 49 per cent stake to the private sector. In a revised draft to the committee of secretaries (CoS), the railways has proposed to bring in the private equity participation after three to four years.

IRCTC primarily has three catering establishments namely:

• the stationary passenger stalls, 

• mobile units, which are the pantry cars attached to the trains 

• and base kitchens, which supply food to trains.

Among several plans laid out by the Corporation are the food plazas at various railway stations. Its target is 50 Food Plazas by March 2003. These multicuisine multi-outlet food plazas are not a revenue generating exercise but an endeavour to facilitate and promote rail tourism. These 2000 square feet expanses offer both self-service and sit-down meal options. Passengers will get the opportunity of having their favourite brand of fast food, as these food plazas will be sub-contracted to many private players. Bangalore, Chennai, CST - Mumbai, Dadar - Mumbai, Nashik, Indore, Bhopal, Agra, Jaipur, Delhi and Nizamuddin are reportedly among the stations earmarked for future food plaza projects.

The Charter Schemes

There are three different plans under the charter schemes they have launched. Firstly, they offer the entire train on charter, whose schedule can then be altered to suit needs of the chartering party. Secondly, the offer of private players and tour operators chartering entire coaches has really gained ground with leading tour operators like Kesari tours, who have signed year-long contracts engaging one coach twice a week to Delhi. The third option is naturally buying out a fixed number of seats on a particular train for a fixed period of six moths or a year. They have already signed contracts with operators like Thomas Cook and Cox and Kings to this effect.

Better Passenger Services

Allocation for passenger amenities put at Rs 200 crore. 285 stations identified to be developed as model stations. Time Table for Summer Special trains has been introduced since last year to facilitate advance information and reservation by passengers. It is published in February/March every year.

Internet based enquiry system for information on train timetable and status of passenger reservation has been made operational for public. A National Train Enquiry System (NTES) has been introduced for disseminating real-time information regarding passenger trains through terminals and Inter-Active Voice Response System (TELEPHONE). Catering and Tourism Promotion

Other Steps

Revision of licence fee to bring uniformity and more professionalism in catering services. Revenue earning on this account increased from 10.83 crore in 1998-99 to Rs 22 crore in 2000-01. It is expected to touch the level of Rs 50 crore in the current financial year. Departmental catering earnings also increased from Rs 7.67 crore in 1998-99 to Rs 15.08 crore in 2000-01. Size for catering/vending stalls at platforms has been standardized, to provide free movement to the passengers. About 1000 stalls over Indian Railways have been reconstructed and 1,500 stalls will be replaced in the current financial year. Automatic Vending Machines for dispensing cold and hot beverages have been provided to make platforms free from cooking and to control pollution. This has also helped in maintaining hygiene, cleanliness and quality of products. Sale of Bidi/Cigarettes at stations and in trains is prohibited. Joint ventures with State Tourism Corporations to provide comprehensive tourist packages, which will include fare, boarding, lodging and sight seeing charges. MoU signed between Ministry of Railways and Maharashtra Tourism Corporation for running new luxury trains similar to Palace on Wheels on Mumbai-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg-Goa-Pune-Aurangabad-Ajanta & Ellora-Nasik-Mumbai route. IRCTC and KTDC will be jointly launching special tour package for Kerala on the lines of Mata Vaishnao Devi package shortly.

Promotion of Domestic Tourism

The IRCTC has decided to set up 100 budget hotels in all cities holding attraction to the inbound or domestic tourist. Work on this project is underway with areas short-listed. But the most significant development at IRCTC to facilitate domestic tourism has launched online ticket reservation system. This will enable all rail travellers to book tickets at their own convenience in the comfort of their homes or offices through the website that will be functional 24 hours of the day. Payment can be made via the net through the use of credit cards and tickets can be collected directly on the train.

There are three different plans under the charter schemes that IRCTC has launched. Firstly, IRCTC offers the entire train on charter, whose schedule can then be altered to suit needs of the chartering party. Secondly, the offer of private players and tour operators chartering entire coaches has really gained ground with leading tour operators like Kesari tours, who have signed year-long contracts engaging one coach twice a week to Delhi. The third option is naturally buying out a fixed number of seats on a particular train for a fixed period of six moths or a year. IRCTC has already signed contracts with operators like Thomas Cook and Cox and Kings to this effect.

As part of its long-term strategy towards organisational reforms and restructuring, the Indian Railways (IR) has made serious attempts to induct professionalism into their stream and divest its peripheral areas of operation connected to its core business of transport. The marketing wing of the IR namely the Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) is currently working on certain policies, on accommodating private parties from the travel trade fraternity to participate in their joint ventures to promote tourism in the country. Earlier, the IRCTC had also announced their interest working on JVs with the organised sector of the hospitality industry. This move comes at a time, when the railway authorities have decided to make their presence felt in the tourism scenario as the largest passenger transport company of the country.

Private Sector Participation

IRCTC, is carefully working out certain schemes and venues for the travel industry to participate in their endeavours. They are also offering more facilities by a way of providing tour packages in association with tour operators and agencies, and would also open group booking facilities for tourists. A strong tourism strategy will soon find its place in the system through dedicated tourist trains, rail coaches and regular trains on sectors developed by tour operator and agencies.

IRCTC is also plans to develop circuits in the religious, historic, business-cum-leisure segments. IRCTC is also open to booking of charted trains, special trains and their keenness in providing exclusive carriages and coaches that can be attached to regular trains according to the tourist convenience or programme. In order to accommodate the tourists, IRCTC is now looking at upgrading their existing properties. These are in the conceptual stages of implementing things and the travel trade fraternity have to join hands with them for a long-term business relationship as well as for mutual benefit.

The plans are that once the corporation starts making profits, the railway could also go in for a joint venture with either the private sector or with government corporations such as the Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC).

Reference Links (Indian Railway Site):

• SPOT YOUR TRAIN
• BOOK YOUR TICKET ONLINE
• A Train of Villages on the Net
  Now the Indian Railways has stepped in to make a more effective use of its 7,000 stations all over the country. If the plan succeeds, the stations will connect hundreds of villages to the World Wide Web, according to a report by the British Broadcasting Service (BBC).
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