Yesterday I got a mail from irctc announcing “training returns”. Indian Railways is soon going to start its own version of loyalty programs. Every time I book a ticket for a 2AC train journey, I’ll get a certain number of points which can be later redeemed for free tickets.
The mail doesn’t mention any details but it’s a really nice thing to see the Railways coming up with such programs. With the advent of low-cost airlines, it looks like the Railways have realized that they are losing out a lot of the upper class traffic and are hence taking efforts to compete with the airlines. Would be interesting to see how this rail-air battle goes. Have a feeling the airlines might just win.
On another note, it is interesting to note that the Railways Minister is not someone who has been known for any kind of reforms or development. Probably he is too busy with his party politics and hence is maintaining a hands-off kind of approach. Anyways, that doesn’t matter as long as the Railways does its job and makes sure the trains reach on time!#