With a charm of its own

By Arun Srivastava
Deputy GM (Tourism Marketing), Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation

After facing tough competition from the airlines, the Indian Railways have significantly revamped themselves starting with cosmetic changes to other services. Though it still carries the maximum number of visitors, constant innovations in products being offered remain necessary in order to retain the numbers.

In the year 2007 Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) made a mark by initiating its tourism activities and this remains the corporation's main focus through the year. The corporation set up its first dedicated portal for rail tourism in India. Creating and running this exclusive portal was one of main targets for the year. The next step was taken towards careful planning and designing of the many rail tour packages. Of these, more than 60 packages are available online.

There were two special trains we introduced that focused on niche areas - Mahaparinirvana did the Buddhist circuit and Bharat Darshan was for the low-end traveler. Now, the corporation also offers the choice of steams and coach charters that can be chartered anytime for any purpose. Marketing such a wide variety of products was not an easy task, but the presence of numerous zonal offices in the country has contributed to the current success of these products.

The products have to be designed keeping in mind the customer. This calls for consolidation of operation of packages as per their requirements. This requires a lot of research and innovation. The distribution channel for the products on offer is through the members of the Travel Agents Association of India and Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India.

Realising our targets for the first year has given us a boost to plan ahead and getting better at offering more services. Firstly, IRCTC is looking at adding more seats on its popular packages so that more numbers can be accommodated. Secondly, the face of the corporation - our portal - will be made more user-friendly and competitive in terms of information offered along with smoother online payment gateways.

While call centres for assistance cover all three zones of the country - northern, western and southern - the eastern zone is also being planned to facilitate travellers. Also, for quick communication to passengers, IRCTC is also looking at mobile technology for ticketing, SMS alerts and more.

One tourist facilitation centre has been opened at Delhi that takes care of bookings and consultation. With its success, we are now looking at opening similar centres across the country in all key cities. This segment of the railways aims at attaining the status of a complete travel solution provider, a one-stop shop for various services, which is the need of the hour. Therefore, services like car rentals and hotel booking have been added to the list. Railways will always have an old-world charm, despite the technological innovations.