RailEnquiry

At a time when revenue enhancement is the main concern of the Railways, the Thiruvananthapuram division seems to be turning a Nelson’s eye towards its potential to earn a tidy sum by displaying advertisements in trains and at railway stations.The Kozhikode-Thiruvananthapuram Jan Shatabdi Express trains are still carrying the contract term-expired advertisements on its coaches for the last few months.As per the records with the Railways, during the last financial year, both the Jan Shatabdi Express trains, running via Alappuzha and Kottayam, had earned Rs 22.5 lakh through the advertisements displayed on the coaches.Despite getting a good sum through the ads, it is alleged that the express trains are not being properly maintained by the Railways. The passengers often complain about the poor condition of chairs, damaged food tables and crashing magazine holders.Regarding the floating of advertisements on the coaches of express trains, Divisional Commercial Manager (Railways) A Sundar said an Expression of Interest for procuring ads for the Jan Shatabdi Express running via Kottayam had already been called. However, the Railways is yet to call an Expression of Interest for the Jan Shatabdi Express running via Alappuzha. Sources point out that the Railways is providing free publicity to the advertisers even after the expiry of contract period as it would require a large amount to remove the advertisements displayed on the coaches. Also, in many railway stations across the division, several advertisements, the validity of which had expired at least a year ago, are still on display.

According to the officials, the division is currently battling certain bottlenecks in procurement of ads.

“A major advertiser has moved the court against us after we threatened to terminate its services as it had failed in paying the Railways its fourth instalment of the agreed contract amount.

 Since, there is a case currently against us, we are finding it difficult to go ahead with finding new advertisers in certain stations,” a senior Railway official said.

In the last one year, however, the Thiruvananthapuram Division earned at least Rs 4 crore from advertisements alone.