Railways new plan to boost revenue: Special trains with movie stars on board

The Indian Railways has come up with a unique idea to increase its revenue. It has decided to allow trains to be booked for promotional activities under a new scheme called 'Promotion on Wheels', under which special trains will be made available for promotion of art, culture, cinema, television, sports and others.

The first special 'Promotion on Wheels' train by the IRCTC and the Western Railway, in coordination with the makers of Akshay Kumar-starrer 'Housefull 4' team, carrying celebrities and mediapersons, will leave Mumbai Central on Wednesday and reach New Delhi on Thursday.

The train will have eight coaches.

Railway minister Piyush Goyal tweeted, "I encourage more filmmakers to use this route to reach out to the masses."

According to a press release issued by Western Railway's Chief Public Relations Officer Ravinder Bhakar, the train will pass through several states and important districts such as Surat, Vadodara and Kota.

"Under this initiative, the railways has approached many major production houses with upcoming films to use these FTR (Full Tariff Rates) trains to facilitate pan-India publicity and promotions of films across the length and breadth of the country. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) shall be the nodal agency for handling such trains," the release said.

The IRCTC will undertake attractive and thematic vinyl-wrapping of these promotional trains, keeping in view that the trains will be crisscrossing the country.

In other news, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday flagged off nine 'Sewa Service' trains connecting small towns to major cities. Goyal said the nine "Sewa Service" trains were launched without any additional investment by the railways and it was an example of how to use existing resources to the maximum.

Of the nine 'Sewa Service' trains, those between Delhi and Shamli, Bhubaneswar and Nayagarh town, Murkongselek and Dibrugarh and Coimbatore and Palani will run daily.

The other trains—from Vadnagar to Mehsana, Asarya to Himmatnagar, Karur to Salem, Yesvantpur to Tumkur and Coimbatore to Pollachi—will run six days a week.