Indian Railways To Introduce "Super App" To Streamline Services Offered By Standalone Apps

Indian Railways is set to introduce a unified app in order to streamline the services offered by all other well-known standalone apps like IRCTC Rail Connect, IRCTC eCatering Food on Track, and IRCTC Air for flight bookings. The authorities believe that the new “super app” would help passengers avail all services in one place, making their travel hassle-free.

According to an ET report, the Super App will consolidate the functionalities of existing apps like Rail Madad, UTS, and National Train Enquiry System, services such as PortRead, Satark, TMS-Nirikshan for operations, and well-known standalone apps like IRCTC Rail Connect, IRCTC eCatering Food on Track, and IRCTC Air for flight bookings.

Among the existing apps, IRCTC Rail Connect is the most popular, with over 100 million downloads and accounting for about half of IRCTC”s total ticket bookings (560,000 train ticket bookings), as the sole ticket reservation platform, while Rail Madad caters to complaints and suggestions, the National Train Enquiry System helps track the status of a train for commuters, and UTS, with over 10 million downloads, focuses on offering platform tickets and season passes.

Officials disclosed their monetization goals by leveraging this unified platform with the help of user feedback. “While designing the super app, the potential for monetization of eyeballs must be kept at the forefront. Bringing the existing successful standalone apps to a common platform must create value,” an official was quoted as saying.

The new app will entail an estimated cost of Rs. 90 crore in terms of development and operation over a period of three years, according to the report.