Indian Railway doesn’t have a good repute when it comes to food and there’s not the least doubt about it. There have always been complaints from passengers regarding the quality of food but now things are going to change!
Yes! From today, i.e., 15th June, travelers of Shatabdi and Rajdhani Express will be able to order the fast food of their choice in advance and it will be delivered to their seat. Mandatory meals have become optional and the order can be placed via SMS, online or phone call.
It’s definitely an exciting news for fast food lovers who were fed up of the boring railway food. Indian Railways ties up with popular and big food chains including McDonald’s, Domino’s, Sagar Ratna, KFC, Pizza Hut, Only Alibaba, Switz Foods, Haldiram, Nirula’s, Bikanerwala, etc.
Despite the fact that this facility has commenced from today, travelers of Shatabdi who are going to Delhi from Ludhiana can get the service from Domino’s in addition to few restaurants like Babbi Fish and Chicken and Gyan Vegetarian. Talking about McDonald’s and KFC, they have not yet begun to deliver at any station coming under Northern Railways’ Ferozepur division.
According to Rajneesh Srivastava, divisional commercial manager, this step has been taken for providing travelers an amicable and pleasant experience of travelling. He further says that the meals must be booked two hours in advance. He adds,
“While booking online, passengers should visit www.ecatering.irctc.co.in. They can then choose the station where they want the food delivered. After selecting the station, passengers will get options of food joints available for that particular station. They can view the menu of these food joints and order their food.”
As of payment, it can be done at delivery time as well as online. It will be the duty of the food aggregator to make sure that the delivery of the food is done within the particular time during which the train stops at a specific station.
It was in June 2016 that a trial of 45 days had been carried out by Indian Railwayss on Howrah-Puri Shatabdi, Pune-Secunderabad Shatabdi, Delhi-Mumbai August Kranti Rajdhani and Patna Rajdhani.
Here’s how you can order your meal:
If you want to place an order online, visit www.ecatering.irctc.co.in, select station or enter PNR no., choose food joint, select your food and place the order. You will receive the OTP which will be verified at the time of delivery.
For making an order on phone, dial ‘1323’ and place the order. You will receive the OTP via SMS, verify it and opt for cash on delivery.
If you want to place an order via SMS, type ‘MEAL’ followed by PNR number and send it to 139. Your order will be placed with customer care executive, verify the OTP that you receive via SMS and go for cash on delivery.