Waiting for a train at the New Delhi railway station will not be an ordeal anymore! Guessing why? Well, it's because Indian Railways has set up a "world-class" executive lounge at the station to make the life of the passengers easy. The revamped lounge, being run by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), was launched in the end of May. FE Online offers a sneak peek into the Indian Railways' executive lounge at the New Delhi Railway station: (IRCTC Photo) The work for the lounges started in 2012 and it was only in May this year that the lounge was thrown open to the public with refurbished looks, Sandip Dutta, PRO, IRCTC told FE Online. "We plan to have such lounges at about 50 railway stations," he added. (IRCTC Photo) -
Imagine putting your feet up and turning on the reading light as you sit in a cushy recliner. Welcome to the "napping zone" at the lounge. (IRCTC Photo)
The lounge which has a capacity of 70 people also offers family rooms, a business centre, comfortable sitting areas with complimentary drinks and a buffet offering some great food. (IRCTC Photo) The executive lounge is open to all railway travellers and the entry fee is Rs 150 for two hours. This allows a traveller to sit in the air-conditioned lounge and enjoy complimentary drinks like tea, coffee, lemonade, ice tea, etc., apart from the use of free wi-fi, and a "spic and span" toilet. (IRCTC Photo) It will also offer facilities like massage centre, a small 5D movie theatre, spa, health centre hopefully by the next month, Dutta said. (IRCTC Photo) After the first two hours, passengers will have to pay an additional Rs 50 per hour. Those opting for a buffet breakfast have to shell out Rs 100 extra, while lunch or dinner will cost Rs 200. (IRCTC Photo) Dutta further told FE Online that passengers can even download movies by paying Rs 50/download. The lounge is accessible through a swipe card, issued to a passenger at the time of check-in. The swipe card also calculates time spent at the lounge. (IRCTC Photo) -
The IRCTC has already awarded tenders for similar executive lounges at 19 more railway stations including Varanasi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Sealdah, Howrah, Guwahati, Patna, Vijayawada, Kathgodam, Bhubaneshwar, Vishakhapatnam, Ahmedabad, Puri, Nagpur, Madurai, Bengaluru, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Gorakhpur. (IRCTC Photo)
