The clichéd black coat and white uniform of the railway station master and the ticket checker, as shown in several Bollywood films, is set to become history. Good news says that the Railway board has roped in fashion designer Ritu Beri to design the uniforms for its employees and she has offered to do it free of cost.

Railways board spokesperson Anil Saxena said, ‘Designer Ritu Beri will design uniforms for many of our employees including the station master, loco pilot, train ticket examiner and guards. The agenda is to get new uniforms for all employees who interact directly with the passengers.’

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According to the plan, the new uniforms will incorporate both traditional and modern elements, suggesting that both sarees and t-shirts will be a part of it. Beri will be introducing a new set of uniforms for all railway employees across all posts. She will be presenting her designs in July.

Additionally, The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has offered to supply the raw material for the uniforms. Union Minister for micro and small enterprises Shri Kalraj Mishra confirmed this news. In fact, the KVC already supplies blankets and bedsheets to the Indian Railways.

Honoured to do my bit for my country @sureshpprabhu https://t.co/5SgPwJQRqY — Ritu Beri (@ritzberi) May 11, 2016

Apart from this, Indian railways is trying to work on ways to increase their non-ticket revenue. Endorsements and sponsors for the new uniforms will be the first step of this plan.

‘The non-fare box revenue (NFR) directorate is looking at advertisements at stations, commercial use of vacant land and space rights over station buildings, including station redevelopment, advertisements on coaches and locos, sponsorship of uniforms for railway personnel, hoardings on land alongside tracks, commercial farming along tracks, monetisation of soft assets, including revenue from advertisements on websites and parking of vehicles on railway land, among other things,’ Saxena added.