Executive Lounges to Come Up at 50 Railway Stations: Report

New Delhi: To provide a comfortable experience to passengers waiting for their trains, executive lounges offering a range of modern facilities such as TV and Wi-Fi connectivity will come up at 50 major railway stations across the country.

"We are in the process of setting up executive lounges of international standards at 50 busy stations and tenders have been floated for it," said a senior official of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).

The air-conditioned executive lounge will have several facilities such as recliners and sofas for seating arrangements, meals, newspapers, magazines, TV, Wi-Fi connectivity, luggage racks and clean washrooms, among others.

"The aim is to provide passengers with a comfortable experience while they are waiting for their trains," he said. "The facility will be available on payment basis."

While an executive lounge is already operational at the New Delhi station on a pilot basis, 50 more stations including Mumbai, Howrah, Bangalore, Lucknow, Patna, Guwahati have been identified to have such facilities.

Meanwhile, IRCTC is installing 4,500 water vending machines at 1,200 stations.

Each machine will be equipped with an automatic dispensing system which will facilitate passengers to buy clean chilled water in different quantities at very low cost.

"This will generate employment to the extent of 10,000 people as most of these machines will be manned," the official added.