Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu may offer more culinary options for passengers in his Rail Budget to be presented on Thursday, so people may enjoy a variety of local cuisines during their train journeys.
The Indian Railways is considering a greater focus on tie-ups with local vendors for offering such a choice to travellers, as part of an attempt to bolster its e-catering business.
“We want to give passengers a variety of choice in terms of local food while traveling in trains and not limit them to the food available in our pantry service. We want to shift our focus on to local vendors rather than going for big food chains. ,” a senior Railway Ministry official said.
At present, Indian Railways’ e-catering service, known as ‘Food on Track’, is available on 1516 trains and at 46 railway stations. Passengers can book food through a host of vendors through IRCTC website or toll-free helpline number 1323 until two hours before the train arrives at the railway station. The facility is available from 6 am-10 pm at present.
More than 70 vendors including big chains such as KFC, Dominos and e-commerce companies like TravelKhana.com and food portal FoodPanda have tied up with Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation to provide food on train.
Former Railway Board Chairman Arunendra Kumar said that there are a lot of start-up companies that can develop a mobile application for passengers to track the e-catering facility.
“I have seen a lot of queries from start-up companies that are interested in developing a mobile application for e-catering. If I pass through Rajasthan, why can’t I have sarso ka saag or bajre ki roti at the stations where train stops. Why should I take the same food that I always have from the pantry?” Mr. Kumar had said in a pre-budget discussion.
Railway officials also said that promoting helpline number for e-catering will be another priority area for the Indian Railways as many passengers are unaware about the present scheme.
“It has been observed that people are often not aware about our e-catering service. We will need to promote our helpline service so that passengers know on which stations they can order food through e-catering,” the official said.
The Rail Budget on Thursday will be the second one presented by Mr. Prabhu and the third by the National Democratic Alliance government. The first Budget of 2014, under the present government, was presented by then Railway Minister DV Sadananda Gowda.
