In order to provide staying facilities for passengers and travellers, Indian Railways will be constructing budget hotels at 30 stations across the country.
The hotels will be developed by Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the catering and ticketing arm of Indian Railways.
The idea of developing budget hotels focuses mainly on passengers who travel by link trains from stations and may have to stay at the station for some hours before their link train arrives.
To cater to all classes of commuters, the IRCTC-run hotels will provide lodging at ‘cheaper rates’.
Currently, the majority of passengers only look for direct trains, rather than opting for connecting ones, as there are no basic amenities at stations.
Indian Railways feels, after the budget hotels are in place, many passengers will ‘opt for link trains as there are staying facilities on the stations’.
This will also help them avoid huge rush at peak times by not travelling on direct trains.
IRCTC will be building budget hotels at Bhopal Habibganj railway station in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and Bhubaneshwar railway station in Orissa, including other stations.
The first budget hotel was to be built in five years in Bhubaneshwar, but due to some reason the project got delayed.
However, this time IRCTC is keen to start the project and ensure that it is finished and thus basic work has already begun at the chosen site near the Bhubaneshwar railway station.
It has also recently introduced Book a Meal scheme where passengers can book a meal with IRCTC vide SMS or phone numbers displayed inside the train compartment.
The meal will be delivered to the commuter at the next station. This is especially introduced for long distance trains.
Many believe the reason for selecting Bhopal Habiganj Railway station is because it is the first ISO 9001:2000 certified railway station in India.
It comes under West Central Railway zone and is located in New Bhopal.
