KOLKATA: Get ready for a bit of an airport-like feel at the Metro stations with 24x7 convenience stores, jazzy video walls and LED ad panels.The Metro Railway has tapped the Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta (IIM-C) to explore a revenue model that will help it boost earnings from non-fare sources after it has increasingly become clear that the railways ministry may not allow any hike in fares.The IIM-C in its report submitted to the Metro Railway has suggested alternative revenue sources that include advertisements on mobile phones via free internet access inside coaches, 24x7 convenience stores at stations, ads on LED panels and video walls and, if possible, branding of stations. These ideas are meant to add to the aesthetics of the stations while bringing in revenue for the Metro coffers.According to the report, the stations are to have curved, straight and hanging LED panels, vinyl wrapping of stairs, pillars and viaducts for a swanky look.The experts have also suggested video walls at entrances of subways leading to platforms, branding of stations and utilization of all vacant space.Non-Fare Revenue (NFR) is a fairly new concept. Stress was laid on it only after the railways realized that the Metro would never be able to meet expenses with subsidized passenger fares alone. When the first metro line was constructed in Kolkata in 1984, stations were not built with NFR in mind. As a result, Metro Railway now has to improvise to increase earnings through this route.“In 2017-18, Metro’s earning was about Rs 195.4 crore. Of this, about Rs 12.7 crore was NFR. Minister of railways Piyush Goyal is laying a lot of stress on this earning and there is also a lot of scope as advertisers get a captive audience. The number of eyeballs is huge and going up nearly every day. In 2018-19, we anticipate an NFR of Rs 21.3 crore,” Metro Railway CPRO Indrani Banerjee said.While existing stations may not have been planned or constructed to meet NFR demands, sufficient space is being kept in the new ones. The Dakshineswar station, for instance, has an area of 750 square metres set aside at street level for commercial exploitation. At the New Garia station, 4,100 square metres are being added at the mezzanine level. Provisions are also being kept there for a five-storey tower that would add nearly 27,885 square metres.Similarly, 1,026 square metres are being set aside at the concourse level at Barun Sengupta station and 1,063 square metres at the platform level of Beliaghata station. The Majerhat station building can also be converted into a seven-storey structure in the future. At the station, nearly 2,100 square metres of space can be commercially exploited.

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