Water-vending machines at major railway stations in Kerala
The contracts will be valid for five years, extendable by three years
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-07-20 06:50 GMT
Thiruvananthapuram: The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will instal mineral water-vending machines in all major railway stations of the state. This was part of plans to set up 5,000 water-vending machines across 1,200 railway stations. These will be installed by companies including Ion Exchange, Eureka Forbes and Kent RO. They are among 21 vendors that have been empanelled by IRTC for the purpose. The present plan was to instal two vending machines per platform.
Earlier, the Railways had a bottled-water brand called Railneer. However, it was stopped as it could not bring its selling price lower than Rs10 a bottle owing to the high cost of distribution. As a result, the objective of making available water at cheap rates could not be achieved, sources said.
The contracts will be valid for five years, extendable by three years. The licence fee will range from Rs 44,000 to Rs 1.1 lakh a year depending upon the nature of the station. The water will be priced at Rs 2 per 300 ml, sources said.
The price for half-, one-, two-, and five-litre bottles will be Rs 5, Rs 8, Rs 12 and Rs 25, respectively. The revenue sharing between IRCTC and the Railways will be 15:85. The cost incurred for input water and electricity will have to be paid by the vendor setting up the unit. The project is also expected to generate employment for many people, sources said.