Uber Plans to Merge with Indian Railways to Expand its Services

India: By expanding its focus on around a million people, traveling via train in India, the company has approached Indian Railways with different proposals, including its services’ integration through app and website, for carrying passengers from stations across various cities.

As per the officials, the anticipated deal between Indian Railways and Uber, is expected to generate a revenue of about USD22.43 million, annually, for the railways, through commissions earned on cab booking and by leasing premium space to Uber for pick & drop at the stations.

The Indian Railways comprises of 12,000 trains which carries more than 23 million passengers per day and is connected to almost 8,000 stations across the country. Moreover, the arm of the Indian Railways, i.e. Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC), is managing, online services of railways. The IRCTC website allows the passengers to book hotels, cabs and buses, wherein, it generates over USD3 billion revenue per year.

Under the proposal, Uber plans to setup kiosk at the stations for assisting passengers in booking cabs for pick & drop along with providing technological upgradation to the Indian Railways app. As per the rail board official, the number of stations are not decided by the company, so far. Moreover, the official also stated that Indian Railways were considering for implementing the proposal and a decision is expected to be taken, soon.

As per TechSci Research, Uber is among leading players in the India radio taxi service market. Moreover, the company has been infusing a vast investment in the country, after selling its business operation of China to its competitor. By merging with Indian Railways, the company is expected to expand its business across the region, to a next level, which would benefit Uber as well as the Indian Railways.