The concept of turning rail coaches into mobile ad-hotspots and ad-billboards, expected to be rolled out shortly, would also herald a new era for the "never-changing red/blue-painted coaches" Ministry of Indian Railways sources said on Tuesday.
The Railways is running about 16,000 trains including 10,000 passenger trains with approximately 1.6 crore (16 million) commuters crisscrossing the country daily.
"The measure will not only change the money matrix of the Indian Railways but also change its outlook through carefully selected advertisements placed inside the coaches," the sources said.
Reports available to the Ministry show interest shown by various companies for ads indicated the proposal was likely to be another turnaround for the Railways, that has earned Rs 11,000 crore (Rs 110 billion) by March 31, 2006.
Railways have already issued tenders inviting advertisers to place their hoardings on wagon bodies, they said adding that rates for the wagons are expected to come at a discount as they are low on visibility.
As they have decided to sell space directly to large advertisers, things may change for the Railways, which have till now employed services of out-door space sellers to market the station and platform ad space, sources said.
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