Indian Railways Counter Budget Airlines

India Railways is taking on the same battle that its buddies in Europe are: defeat the budget airlines. Last week Europe I posted how Europe rail travel is positioning itself for a comeback with its new high speed rail expansions.

Well, Indian Railways is gearing up for a similar battle, but with an even more aggressive plan to win over budget travelers. And…it sounds like a good one.

The plan actually began in 1998, and targets the very thrifty budget travelers and backpackers, as well as the premium / high class travelers.There 4 tier plan includes:

1. Four High Speed Railroad links - They are testing some real fast ones that could cut travel time very nicely.

2. 100 Budget Hotels on unused land owned by the railway - In a public-private partnership, Indian Railways will lease land to private developers to create a 100 budget hotels along the rail routes. This ensures that travelers will not be required to stray too far away from the lines to find a cheap place to stay. Win-win for budget travelers and the government.

3. A campaign to increase cleanliness of travel - Good. Many people often picture railways to be crusty and dirty, and they probably have a good reason to do so. A public campaign will mandate cleanliness, giving travelers confidence.

4. Reservation and Fare changes - These changes are suppose to be pretty drastic compared to how Indian Railways previously operated. They will employ many new computer booking kiosks, smart cards, and better phone information and reservation systems. For the fare changes, fares are expected to be reduced a little bit, which is always good.

So this shows the railways haven’t been ignoring their loss in market share to the budget airlines over the past few years. If this continues it can only help the cause of the budget backpacking traveler. Sweet…The original story is from the Bangkok post, but the site is down at the moment.