For the first time in the history of Indian Railways, some of the trains will offer head and foot massage services to passengers on board, Railway officials said on Saturday. The facility will be available on 39 trains that will originate from Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
The service, will which be available for Rs 100 per passenger, has been rolled out with immediate effect. Officials told PTI that this had come as a proposal from the Ratlam division of Western Railway zone.
Rajesh Dutt Bajpai, Director Media of the Railway Ministry told IANS, "The Ratlam Division has issued an order on June 7 for provision of head and foot massage facilities to passengers on 39 trains originating from the Indore railway station under the New, Innovative Non-Fare Revenue Ideas Scheme (NINFRIS) policy."
Bajpai said that each train would have about three-to-five masseurs, who will be hired on contract. "The contractors and the masseurs would be given identity cards after proper background checks."
He said that the initiative will help the Railways earn Rs 20 lakh annually, above the Rs 90 lakh it makes from ticket sales every year.
The trains on which the service has been provided include Malwa Express, Indore-Lingampalli Humsafar Express, Avantika Express, Indore-Veraval Mahamana Express, Shipra Express, Narmada Express, Ahilya Nagari Express, Panchvally Express, Indore-Pune Express.
This scheme is part of the railways' scheme whereby zones and divisions have been asked to come out with new and innovative ideas to generate non-fare revenue for the national transporter, PTI reported.
In May, Indian Railways had annouced several facilities, including allowing the changing of the boarding station of reserved tickets as late as four hours before the departure time. The announcement came a month after Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had launched a new feature on the IRCTC website, through which passengers can view the reservation chart and vacant berths online.
(With IANS inputs)