'Brand' Express to earn Indian Railways Rs 800 cr

NEW DELHI: After the 'Blue Billion' and 'Mast Kurkure', trains sporting brand names are set to criss-cross the country under an initiative by the railways to rake in profits.

The railways have decided to name their trains after popular brands, which will get space for advertisements on railway charts, coach boards and even bed wraps offered in AC coaches. Also, space on the train's body will be used to sport the brand.

From Pepsi's 'Blue Billion Express' prior to the World Cup to its current 'Mast Kurkure Express' down south, Indian Railways seems to have hit the jackpot when it comes to increasing profits.

If top rail ministry sources are to be believed, the next stage of 'Laluism', brand trains, will chug along soon after the coming Parliament session.

As part of the initiative, three special summer trains under South Western Railways have been named after Kurkure, the snacks range owned by Pepsi's Frito-Lay India.

Though officials were tight-lipped about the revenue generated by 'Kurkure Express', they maintained that the railways planned to raise at least Rs 800 crore through the marketing initiative.

Buoyed by the success of 'Kurkure Express', senior railway officials have asked all railway zonal offices to shortlist trains that could be used for branding.

"The concept of Kurkure Express has been doing good. Hence, we now plan to extend the branding services to more trains as part of a larger plan to increase revenue without raising fares," a senior rail ministry official said.

"The trains being shortlisted are those which are tourist-centric ones," the official said.

On the recommendation of the 16 railway zones, the ministry has shortlisted 65 trains, about four from each zone, for which tenders will be issued after the Parliament session.

Going a step further, the railways might hand over even catering and maintenance of the trains to the brands, ensuring that the entire train would bear the look of the specific brand, sources in the ministry said.

Marketing and image gurus have hailed the initiative as a money spinner but warned of the dangers of 'overdoing' it.

"No doubt, the concept of a brand train is a good one. It is likely to work with products that are low priced and have mass consumption as well as national penetration. The ideal figure for brand trains should be between 20 and 25 as more trains would mean the exclusivity is gone," said image guru Dilip Cherian.

FMCG giants and corporates seem to be keen to cash in on the opportunity of having their names splashed across the world's largest transport service, the Indian Railways.

The railways runs about 8,000 trains with approximately 1.6 crore passengers commuting every day across the country.

"Mast Kurkure Express gave us a perfect vehicle to connect with families during a time when they go for vacations and have fun. It was the prefect season for Kurkure to enhance its image as the brand that provides 'mast' family moments and we associated with the initiative," said Sucheta Govil, marketing director of FritoLay India.

According to reports, companies like Airtel, Tata Tele and Sony Ericsson had also bid for the initial summer special trains but Kurkure was prepared to pay the most.

But one major concern is the security of staff and passengers.

"The security of passengers is our top-most priority. We are working on certain models that could be initiated to keep a check on the security of branded trains as their staff would be of the particular brands. We might set up a board for the security of brand trains," a senior railway official said.

He also said popular trains like Garib Rath will not be renamed and that the number of trains would remain the same.

So, with 'Laluism' all set to roll out, railways and corporates might just have a long party together courtesy brand trains.