The railways are getting up to scratch in the intense battle being waged with the low-cost airlines. By launching its first-ever scheme for frequent travellers—dubbed ‘Shubh Yatra’—the journey by train just became more pleasurable. This is the first time that Indian Railways is implementing an initiative to ‘reward loyalty’—a concept already mastered by most airlines. Launched through its subsidiary IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp Ltd) in joint partnership with SBI Card, the scheme provides its members Railway Points on tickets purchased through IRCTC website (www.irctc.co.in). These points are calculated at 10 per cent of the fare paid during the lean season and 4 per cent during peak season. For Indian Railways, the peak-season is from April 1 to July 14 and September 16 to January 14. Restricted only to the AC class traveller (except AC III tier), the Railway ‘loyalty’ Points can be used to purchase free railway tickets. ‘‘Each point is equivalent to a rupee,’’ said Amitabh Pandey, IRCTC group general manager (IT services). ‘‘A passenger must accumulate a minimum of 500 points before he can redeem them,’’ he added. The membership fee for the Shubh Yatra programme is Rs 500 for the first year and Rs 300 for subsequent years. To further empower customers, IRCTC also simultaneously launched SBI Railway Card—India’s first co-branded credit card for railway passengers. The card offers railway passengers ‘‘Railway Points earned through normal credit card usage, plus a return of 10 per cent of AC ticket fare as Railway Points,’’ explained S.K. Malik, MD, IRCTC. The SBI Railway Card customer gets complimentary membership and benefits of Shubh Yatra. The membership fee for the SBI Railway Card is Rs 500 for the first year with 250 free bonus Railway Points. SBI is looking at a membership figure of 1,00,000 SBI Railway Cards by the year-end.
