Indian Railways has been a mode of transport for 154 years now. Indian railways comprise world's largest employees over 1.4 million, and is the largest rail network comprising two basic customer segments - freight and passenger. Indian Railways run more than 17,000 trains daily, of which about 9000 are passenger trains carrying about 18 million passengers every day.

The day is not far when world will see Indian Railways as a fully developed modern, reliable and cost effective integrated transport mode. To meet the need of competing modes of transport and with a view to provide rail user optimally competitive freight rates and fares, the Indian Railways have introduced several incentive schemes for increasing passenger and freight traffic as well as generating additional revenue for the Railways. 

Achievements of Indian Railway include the following:

Marketing as a brand.
As a part of ongoing marketing strategy, a number of steps have been taken by Indian Railways such as reduction in fares, proliferation of ticketing facility, introduction of Passengers Incentive Schemes, Scheme for Frequent Travelers (SOFT) etc.

Reduction in Fares.
Fares for AC I class .and AC-2 tier classes have been reduced. The reduction is more during the lean period in non popular trains.

E Ticketing Facility
E ticketing facility to outside agencies is being facilitated by IRCTC which has appointed more than 8000 agents for booking e-tickets. For the benefit of passengers using e-ticketing facility, service charges realized by authorized members for issue of e-tickets have been reduced.

Upgrade Scheme
Other incentives to passengers include upgrade from lower class to higher class without payment of any additional charges under this scheme. Earlier upgrade to only next higher class, and that too only to the confirmed passengers, was permitted. But now, upgrade to next higher class has also been permitted in the scheme. The scheme has also been ex-tended to RAC and wait-listed passengers.

Frequent Travelers Scheme
To reward the passengers who travel frequently by rail, a scheme of Frequent Travelers (SOFT) has been launched by IRCTC in col¬laboration with State Bank of India. This scheme is available in 1st AC, 2 AC and AC Chair Car classes. Passengers have to get them registered on payment of first year membership fee of Rs.500/- after which a card is issued. The card has to be renewed every year on payment of an annual fee of Rs.300/-. Passenger gels a complimentary train trip after certain number of reward points are accumulated.

Other developments include:
1. Private ownership of special type of wagons.

2. Railway Rolling Stock Leasing Policy to enable induction of wagons through private sector leasing route, a policy is under formulation.

3. Agri Retail Chain to give a flip to development of Agri Retail Chain, Railways proposes to use spare land. This will also lead to increasing traffic. Policy is under consideration.

4. Market Survey to get ideas and knowledge to obtain independent, unbiased assessment, it has been decided to carry out market survey through professional consultants.