Pantry cars on trains may soon become history as passengers could opt for a variety of food alternatives, ranging from ready-to-eat meals to local cuisines. A government-appointed committee to revamp the existing catering policy has said the Railways should not “micro-manage” catering policies to the extent of fixing the food menu on different trains.
Recommending that passengers on all trains must receive tea or coffee kits as presently provided on premium trains, the panel said meals may be provided as an option on the Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains.
The Railway Ministry has started work on implementing the recommendations submitted by the panel led by R. D. Sharma, chief commercial manager of the Central Railways, and a new catering policy will be released soon, officials said. The committee has suggested that the Railways take a slew of steps to check exorbitant pricing of meals. For instance, meals may be priced in the multiples of Rs. 10.
“Vegetarian standard meal can be priced at Rs. 50 and non-vegetarian meal at Rs. 70,” said the recommendation of the report, reviewed by The Hindu .
The Railways has decided to do away with one of two pantry cars on eight Rajdhani trains, as reported by The Hindu last week. To ensure quality checks, a third party auditor will be appointed to look into the maintenance of catering standards on trains.
