From 25 tea variants to takeaway bedrolls: IRCTC's new schemes to lure train travellers

The Indian Railways is on a revamp mode with several new developments in the recent past. Days after the Mahamana Express was launched with newly-designed coaches, the Indian Railways has made three new announcements with a view to make train journey a comfortable experience for lakhs of travellers.

While one move is to ease the change in boarding station before boarding a train, the other is about catering services for the passengers onboard.

Here's a look at three new steps taken by the Indian Railways for the benefit of the travellers:

1. 25 variants of tea:

One often longs for a cup of good tea while travelling on a train. It's just a matter of chance if you happen to grab a decent cup of tea onboard a train. But this experience is set to get better, with an association between IRCTC and a popular tea joint Chaayos.

Following the tie-up, the Indian Railways is set to offer its passengers 25 variants of tea. And if this is not all, these 25 variants can further be modified in different flavours. Apart from the usual ginger and masala chai, also on the offing are variants of tea like aam panna and hari mirch chai.

2. Take away bed rolls:

A pair of white bedsheets, a pillow and a blanket – the ones that we are provided while travelling in the AC compartments of a train – can now be packed along with your luggage while leaving the train. But this comes at a nominal cost of Rs 250 per set.

The bedsheets and pillow can be bought at the railway station at a cost of Rs 140. And the blanket can be bought for an addition sum of Rs 110. This service has reportedly been initiated at Tambaram station in Chennai, and is likely to be extended to other stations, including New Delhi junction.

3. Online change in boarding station:

Booked your train ticket from New Delhi, but changed your mind to board the same from Ghaziabad? No hassles, as you can now conveniently log in to the IRCTC website and edit the boarding station, a day before the date of journey.

This option can be availed by those travelling on an e-ticket. One can go to the Booked History section after logging into irctc.co.in, and then select the option given beneath the list of booked tickets. The boarding station can be changed only once per journey.