Over the recent past, the Indian Railways has not only succeeded in ensuring greater safety and punctuality but has also worked actively towards enhancing passenger comfort in railway travel. In yet another move, which is set to make rail travel more comfortable for the passengers, the Indian Railways has announced that it will provide massage services for the passengers on board running trains. This service will be extended to 39 trains departing from Indore.
This unique initiative has been taken by the Ratlam Division of Indian Railways. The Division has issued a Letter of Award (LoA) which reads that all the trains departing from Indore will provide head and foot massage facilities. As per Indian Express, the massage services have been divided into three categories- Gold, Diamond and Platinum. The charges for this service will vary from Rs. 100 to 300 and each session will last for 15-20 minutes. The service will be available only during the day.
Rajesh Bajpai, Director, Media and Communication, Railway Board, said, “This is the first time in history of railways that we will provide massaging service for passenger comfort on running trains. It will not only increase revenue but also add passengers. Railways will earn an additional revenue of Rs. 20 lakh annually and an estimated increase of Rs. 90 lakh per year through additional sale of tickets from about 20,000 passengers who will avail the services. This is the first time that such a contract has been signed.”
As per the Railways, three to five people will travel in every such train in order to provide massage services. Those providing massage services will be provided with proper IDs. This unique initiative is a part of the Non-Fare Generation in Railways, as per which the different Railway zones and divisions have been asked to come up with ideas to augment the non-fare revenue for the Indian Railways.
Clearly, the Non-Fare Generation scheme has started working wonders for the Railways straight away. It seems that the Railways Minister, Piyush Goyal has started off from where he had left in his first tenure. The Indian Railways is now thinking out of the box and implementing unique ideas at the ground level. Having already achieved better safety and punctuality records, the Railways are now focusing on augmentation of passenger comfort. In order to ensure that the Railways are coming up with unique ideas and innovations.