Indian railways to introduce entertainment facilities on-board
Indian railways to introduce entertainment facilities onboard:- The Indian Railway is all set to introduce Rail Radio and entertainment options for all its passengers and those waiting on the rail platforms.
Scheme includes
The products available under the ‘infotainment’ scheme will include different movies, television shows, music, sports, kids programs, spirituality, games, governance, news, fashion and lifestyle along with the news, online books.
The products under the scheme would be in three different categories free, nominal and premium. The passengers, who wish to access the product, will require a smartphone or a laptop.
Companies interested in the scheme
“Different companies including the Saregama India Ltd, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, Moving Talkies and Zee Entertainment have already shown their interest in the project on the railway scheme. Radio Mirchi and Fever 104 are also interested in the Rail Radio project,” a senior railway ministry stated.
He added that the move will work to entertain its passengers and will also earn revenue for the Indian Railways.
Project handed over to
“The project has been handed over to the railways PSU RailTel for its implementation and will be completed by this fiscal,” said R.P. Thakur, executive director, non-fare revenue in the railway ministry. “It has been seen as a good source of revenue and the companies will be selected through a pure bidding process so that the Railways can earn more and more profit.”
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The move has been initiated at a time when the Indian Railways is trying to improve its services and passengers experiences in trains, a key focus area for the railway minister Suresh Prabhu.
Interested companies executives say
Mohan Ram, Moving Talkies executive director said that it is a great idea and our pilots on the Bengaluru Shatabdi have shown that there is a huge section of train passengers who are ready to access the paid content. “The infrastructure which is needed for the project is two sets-of-boxes per coach and it will be an intranet-sort of a thing where people will just need to connect to their intranet through the provided wi-fi option.”
Prashant Panday, chief executive officer at Entertainment Network India Ltd which operates Radio Mirchi said, “It is still very early to comment. We keep looking on to the upcoming expansion opportunities. We think we can add happiness to everybody’s lives and hence we keep exploring all the given opportunities to do so.”
Harshad Jain, chief executive officer of the Radio and Entertainment at the HT Media runs Fever 104 and Radio Nasha said that we are in the early stages of discussion and it’s too early to comment.
The Hungama Digital Media Entertainment’s chief operating officer Albert Almeida did not respond to any query seeking.
