The New Indian Railway Food Menu For Modern Generation Travelers

The image of Indian railways was recently blotted by a food scam. It came to light that passengers were made to pay double the amount fixed by the railways for meals. For instance, passengers had to shell out anything from Rs. 80 to Rs. 120 for a regular veg meal and up to Rs. 140 or more for non veg meal. Passengers complained against poor food quality too.

The latest Indian railway food menu rates

To thwart food scam in railways network, Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will now print food menu rates on train tickets. The last time food rates were revised was in 2012. Now, with the new catering policy of 2017 in action, the IRCTC has been empowered to carry out e-catering services and rope in food vendors to provide high quality meals to train travelers.

As per IRCTC:

• All standard veg breakfast rate at stations is Rs. 25 and on trains is Rs. 30, while non veg breakfast rate is Rs. 30 at stations and Rs. 35 on trains.

• All standard veg meal rate at stations is Rs. 45 and on trains is Rs. 50, while non veg meal rate is Rs. 50 at stations and Rs. 55 on trains.

• Standard thali meals are available only in refreshment rooms. They cost Rs. 35 for veg and Rs. 40 for non veg.

• Standard tea rate is Rs. 5; tea with bags and coffee with instant powder is Rs. 7; tea in pot is Rs. 10 and coffee in pot is Rs. 15.

• Packaged drinking water costs Rs. 15 for 1 liter bottle and Rs. 10 for half liter bottle.

Food menu

Standard menu for veg breakfast from IRCTC contains bread and butter, idlis and vada, upma and vada, and pongal and vada. The non veg breakfast contains bread, butter, and omelette.

Standard veg meal from IRCTC contains plain rice or jeera rice or pulao, paranthas or chapattis or purees, dal or sambhar, mixed vegetable, curd, and pickle sachet, plus drinking water in sealed glass of 250 ml. The non veg meal contains similar items, except mixed vegetable. It is replaced by egg curry.

IRCTC’s New Catering Policy 2017

On Feb 27, 2017, Suresh Prabhu, the Railway Minister of India, released New Catering Policy 2017 that featured new partnership with Department of Post for Parcel Business.

As per the policy, IRCTC will handle catering services on base kitchens and mobile units that include meal services on new trains. The IRCTC will also manage pantry car contracts allotted by zonal railways.

The new policy empowers IRCTC and gives high hope towards delivering quality food at affordable rates to passengers. It aims to minimize complaints related to food and its services by passengers.

One of the obvious benefits of IRCTC’s tie up with private food vendors is that travelers can now get more choices in food menu. Indian railway food menu was regarded as boring by passengers; but now, you can expect to find interesting changes and food choices that include popular foods like pizzas and burgers.