In the next couple of months, India's premiere Rajdhani Express would not be seen in its trademark red colour. Similarly, the vibrant blue color of other trains will be replaced by ad-wrappings, which the ministry of railway has planned in a bid to mop up revenue for the cash-strapped transporter.

Tapping its vast unused advertisement potential, the railways has decided to allow wrapping of over ten thousand trains that is estimated to earn over Rs 11,000 crore for the railways.

To begin with, vinyl wrapping will be done in nearly two dozen trains. Tenders for this have been invited, said officials. The minimum reserve price will vary between Rs 1.2 crore to Rs 6 crore for buying advertisement rights on outer space of a train.

SHATABDI EXPRESS TO BE ROPED IN SOON



Initially, railway is offering selected Rajdhani trains originating from Delhi for vinyl wrapping. Mumbai Rajdhani and August Kranti Rajdhani Express, Mumbai - Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express, Maharashtra Sampark Kranti Express and Golden Temple Mail are some of the other trains selected by railways in the first phase. Next in line will be Shatabdi Express trains running in Northern Railways.

Ad-wrapping of trains is part of the suggestions made by railway's engineering firm RITES, which said that Indian Railway has the potential to earning Rs 11,000 crore from advertisement. Soon after assuming charge, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had asked RITES to do the firstever professional assessment of how much money the Railways could earn from selling ad-space. The idea is that railways income should not be solely dependent on freight and passenger fare.

HUGE POTENTIAL IN THE DEAL



Railway has huge potential to use its space for advertising as it runs 13,000 trains per day on 63,000 kilometer of track and carries 23 million passengers -equivalent to the population of Australia. However, railways have been recording revenue deficit of over Rs 32,000 in the recent years.

According to officials, Indian Railway only generates nearly 5 percent of its revenue from advertisements as compared to nearly 20 per cent ad-related revenue generated by leading railway networks in the world.

There have been examples in the past where vinyl wrapping has been done on trains but Indian Railways is now planning to take it up on a big scale.

An official said railway plans to offer vinyl wrapping option on all trains in future. While RITES estimated the revenue potential of Rs 11,000 crore, sources claimed the actual value could be even higher.

"Vinyl wrapping will have its own advantages. It will save us the cost of painting of coaches and maintenance will be easier. If the plan is successful, railways could easily become one of the biggest medium of advertisement in India," said an official.



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