New Delhi: Railway minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday unveiled a policy enabling the Indian Railways to earn revenue from advertising—on trains, railway bridges and other assets, setting up of ATMs on platforms and offering digital content to passengers, with an expectation of revenues over Rs15,000 crore.

The non-fare revenue policy allows Railways to consider unsolicited proposals to earn through non-fare sources with several flexible terms and conditions. Under the policy advertising will be allowed in areas so far unused—along tracks, road over bridges, level crossing gates, etc. It will also allow all forms of advertising, including digital and rights will be awarded for 10 years.

A train branding policy was also introduced under which advertisement through vinyl wrapping of train exteriors, (including windows of AC coaches) and inside coaches will be allowed. The tenure of the contract will be 10 years.

Train branding package sizes will be offered for bidding in a phased manner and around ₹ 2,000 crore in revenue is expected.

Similarly, a content-on-demand and rail radio policy allows monetization of entertainment-based services on trains and at railway stations.

Entertainment services will be provided through audio (public address systems) and video systems (personal devices of passengers). Provision of content such as movies, shows and educational programmes will be in both paid and unpaid formats and Rs6,000 crore is expected to be generated.

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