Changing Faces of the Indian Railway Food Menu

Just like booking a ticket on trains has become as easy as clicking on a few buttons with your mouse, so also getting piping hot tasty meals is possible today with a few clicks of your fingertips. The ICRTC has made it possible for thousands of passengers to get quality meals delivered on trains. For this, all they need to do is log onto e-catering websites and select their preferred choice of menus. The Indian Railway food menu has thus undergone major changes over the recent few years. Gone are the days of being forced to survive on only meals delivered by the pantry cars in trains; today you can get any cuisine of your choice online and have it delivered to your berth in a matter of hours.

Why did the Indian Railway food menu need changes?

Earlier, traveling by trains for long distances would mean eating the snacks from vendors who got on board at every station or ordering the main meals like dinner and lunch from the train pantry cars. Some families preferred to carry home-cooked meals when they were traveling with small children so that they would not have to depend on outside food. However, as the coaches became air-conditioned and more and more security regulations came to be implemented, these vendors stopped selling food on the trains. Now, the focus has shifted to getting gourmet style meals on trains just like you would get outside in a regular restaurant. So, the Indian Railway food menu has become far more diverse these days and it is possible to order from a variety of cuisines.

Another major reason why the Indian Railway food menu had to be revamped was because the earlier pantry car model in trains was not turning out to be reliable. Passengers complained about the unhygienic conditions in which meals were prepared. There were complaints about the delay in delivering food and passengers were more often than not disgruntled with the taste of food and lack of quality services. E-catering services have come as a huge relief for these passengers traveling long distances by trains. Now they are free to order for meals of their choice whenever they want to. They can log onto the e-catering sites and choose their menu, the station where they want the meals to be delivered, the mode of payment that suits them etc. The convenience attached with this new model for ordering food on railways has been the main cause for its popularity.

E-catering services are committed to offering quality meals to customers. They have a list of vendors that can deliver meals to their clients. The client simply needs to provide his booking details like the train number and seat number. The meals are delivered fresh and hot to the customer at the station he specifies. Since the vendors are all professional caterers, you can be rest assured that the quality of meals will be superior. The e-catering companies will also carry out routine inspection and quality control checks to make sure al safety and health regulations are met. The meals will also be packaged in bio-degradable parcels to make it eco-friendly. The ICRTC is optimistic that more and more vendors will step in to make the Indian Railway food menu more diverse and to give consumers even better choices.