Bengaluru: South Western Railways has made it easy for train passengers on a visit to Bengaluru to find accommodation anywhere within the city. With Railways entering into a partnership with hotel chain Oyo Rooms, attractive red kiosks of the popular budget group have sprung up at the entrance of six railway stations within the Bengaluru Railway Division in the last fortnight. The service has now been launched at Bengaluru Cantonment, Kengeri, Yeshwantpur, Krishnarajapuram and Yelahanka railway stations.
Whitefield railway station is also set to join the list soon. Railway officials confirm that the present contract between the Bengaluru Railway Division and Oravel Stays Private Ltd is for a year. Oyo Rooms opened its first kiosk on July 17 that helps passengers book accommodation online through any tablet. Though there has been no publicity, the kiosks have started getting four or five bookings every day and officials expect this number to go up in the coming days.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, senior railway official, Bengaluru Division, says, “This initiative has been undertaken as part of our non-fare revenue generating sources. So that our Division stands to get fixed revenue of `16,66,000 from all the stations collectively as the annual licence fee. It is beneficial to passengers too as they can just arrive in Bengaluru without any accommodation worries.”
The initiative is not new to Karnataka because Mysuru railway station already has an OYO kiosk while none of the stations falling under Hubballi Division has them yet.
As per the contract, one kiosk measuring 25 sq.ft needs to be put up by the licencee. The kiosks should neither cause public inconvenience nor to the Railway authorities and also not hamper free movement of passengers.
