Entertainment, wi-fi on Mumbai locals, Shatabdis

The railways will soon unveil onboard entertainment in about 100 Mumbai suburban trains, which will come up along with wi-fi and CCTV cameras. The railways has also floated tenders for installation of infotainment in six Shatabdi trains.

“The railways will soon invite expression of interests as part of public-private partnership (PPP) to introduce infotainment in about 100 Mumbai suburban trains. There will be a cap of about 30 per cent for advertisements to be shown on the screen to be installed in the train coaches, while the rest will be programmes to entertain the commuters,” said a senior Railway Board official.

The firms who would join hands with the railways to roll out the infotainment will also have to offer wi-fi and install CCTV cameras, which would be linked with the security apparatus of the railways. “The railways and the interested firms will share revenues. The railways will invite the interested parties soon,” said the official, who added that requisite studies have been conducted to ensure that the move remains feasible and economically viable.

The railways has also floated tender to invite firms as part of the PPP programme to offer the infotainment services in six Shatabdi trains. Also, the Railways is seeking the views of the private firms on its draft concession agreement for development of stations.

“In place of we coming out with a concession agreement, we for a change are asking those who are keen to join the station development programme to tell us what all they want in the agreement which will make their partnership with the Railways feasible and economically viable for them. We will thus come out with a final concession agreement for station development to ensure that the PPP model works successfully,” said the official.