Railway stations allowed to carry sponsors’ names, logos

PRAYAGRAJ: In the days to come if you spot the name of a company, person or organisation displayed before or after the name of the railway station you are passing by or have reached, don’t be surprised.
Aiming to generate non-fare revenue, the Railway Board has allowed co-branding, station branding or semi-naming rights at railway stations. Following this, names of brand or logos of government and reputed business houses can be prefixed or suffixed to the names of railway stations.
However, such an activity is a form of advertisement only and does not tantamount to change in the name of the railway station.
As per a March 2 letter of the Railway Board, addressed to the general managers of all the railway zones of the country, the prefix or suffix of the brand name or logo to the name of the railway station and such brand name shall not exceed two words.
However, co-branding shall not be permitted on railway tickets, PRS, websites, route maps, in announcements through public-address systems, on rail display networks, etc., where the name of the railway station shall be its original only.