Indian Railways is set to take another revolutionary step with the imminent launch of a Super App. This innovative app aims to offer a smoother, more connected rail travel experience. How will it do this? By combining ticketing, train tracking and other services offered by more than a dozen existing applications. There’s no doubt that a giant step towards the modernisation of rail travel in India is about to become a reality…
Converging services
Like Tata Neu, Indian Railways is entering the super app market in India. At present, Indian Railways has more than ten separate apps, each dedicated to specific services. These include: booking tickets, tracking trains, ordering food, and many others… This diversity, while beneficial, has sometimes created fragmentation in the user experience. The super app aims to solve this problem by bringing all these functions together on a single platform. This will merge existing applications such as IRCTC Rail Connect and the National Train Inquiry System, giving passengers seamless, centralised access to all the information and services they need. All without having to download several applications.
The application will improve the user experience by reducing the number of downloads required for a full range of rail services.
SENIOR INDIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL
The benefits of this Super App
By offering users the chance to track train positions in real time and book tickets, the app promises an enriched user experience. But the benefits don’t stop there. By incorporating features such as complaints recording, the super app aims to play a crucial role in service quality. What’s more, by bringing together applications such as Rail Madad, UTS and Food on Track, the app aims to become a genuine one-stop shop. And that applies to all aspects of rail travel. Not only designed to optimize existing services, the app also goes further by opening up monetization opportunities. This strategic approach is designed to boost rail revenues, demonstrating the versatility and efficiency of this new platform.
CRIS expertise at the service of rail innovation
The development of this super app has been entrusted to the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS). An autonomous body under the Ministry of Railways. To finance the project and operate the application for a period of three years, Indian Railways will have to invest more than 10 million dollars. However, let’s hope that this standardization project does not suffer the same fate as that of Great British Railways.
