For decades, Indian Railways has been more than a transport network. Its trains have carried people, goods, political messages and, increasingly, brands. But the latest experiment takes railway advertising to an entirely different level. From August 20, the Lucknow–New Delhi Tejas Express is set to run as the ‘Sprite Tejas Express’, becoming India’s first privately branded train.
The move by Coca-Cola’s Sprite is not merely another advertising campaign. It signals a shift in how brands view public infrastructure — from spaces where advertisements are displayed to platforms that can themselves become branded experiences.
The Sprite branding will cover the Lucknow–Delhi Tejas service, operated by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). The branding arrangement is expected to run for at least six months, giving Sprite a high-frequency, highly visible presence on one of India’s premium train services.
For a beverage brand built around youth, refreshment and a distinctive visual identity, a train offers something conventional billboards cannot: repeated exposure combined with passenger engagement.
A traveller does not simply see the Sprite branding and move on. The passenger spends hours inside the branded environment, potentially encountering the brand on the exterior, at stations, inside the train and through announcements or other touchpoints.
Transit advertising has traditionally relied on buses, metro systems, railway stations and billboards. Train branding takes the concept further by combining mobility with captive audiences.
Tejas Express is particularly attractive because it occupies the premium end of Indian rail travel. Introduced as a semi-high-speed train with enhanced passenger comfort, Tejas coaches were designed with features such as modern interiors, bio-vacuum toilets, CCTV cameras and improved passenger amenities.
That premium positioning gives advertisers access to an audience that is travelling for business, leisure and inter-city purposes — often spending several uninterrupted hours with the brand around them.
The Sprite branding should not be confused with private ownership of the train. The Lucknow–Delhi Tejas Express remains an IRCTC-operated service, while the railway infrastructure, train operations and safety systems remain within the Indian Railways framework.
Tejas itself has often been described as India’s first ‘private’ or ‘corporate-run’ train, but the distinction is important. Earlier reporting noted that the service was essentially managed by IRCTC, with the Railways retaining control over core railway operations.
The Sprite deal is therefore best understood as a commercial branding arrangement rather than privatisation of a railway service.
The significance of Sprite Tejas extends beyond one beverage company. It could establish a new commercial template for Indian Railways.
Brands could increasingly seek exclusive rights to trains, coaches, stations or passenger touchpoints. In March, for instance, Asian Granito India launched a branding initiative on the Ahmedabad–Mumbai Tejas Express, using food trays to reach passengers during their journey.
If such experiments prove commercially successful, railway assets could become an increasingly valuable advertising inventory.
The real question is how far the model can go without compromising the identity of the railway service. For Sprite, the answer is clear: why advertise beside the train when the train itself can become the advertisement?
