More Restaurant-on-Wheels planned in Mumbai, Pune

The interior of the restaurant has been decorated in such a way that diners can enjoy the experience of 'rail dining'. Credit: Central Railways

Buoyed by the success of Restaurant-on-Wheels in Mumbai and Nagpur, the Central Railways (CR) is planning more such restaurants in old coaches and exploring their feasibility in the Mumbai and Pune divisions.

“The railway plans to explore the possibility of opening similar restaurants at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai, Neral, Lonavala and Igatpuri stations on Mumbai division and at Akurdi, Baramati, Chinchwad and Miraj stations on the Pune Division,” CR officials said on Sunday.

The Restaurant-on-Wheels is a unique dining experience in a rail-themed setting.

The first of CR's Restaurant-on-Wheels opened at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai on October 18, 2021 was a modified coach mounted on rails, located at the Heritage Gully, opposite to platform no 18 at CSMT.

The Heritage gully has rail artefacts including narrow gauge locomotives, parts of old printing press and so on.

Named Boogie-Wogie, this fine-dining place offers unique experience to diners and can accommodates 40 patrons inside each coach, which has 10 tables. The interior of the restaurant has been decorated in such a way that diners can enjoy the experience of 'rail dining'. It has become a landmark eating house in the area with an approximate 60,000 visitors from its opening to date.

This was followed by a similar restaurant coach mounted on rails outside Nagpur railway station which was opened on February 3, 2022. The exact look of a Railway Coach has been provided to the restaurant coach. While decorating the coach, important places of Nagpur were incorporated. Also the original colour and design of the coach has been maintained. This restaurant which can accomodate 40 patrons at a time has had approximately 30,000 visitors till date.

These restaurants offer North, South, continental and other cuisines and the rates and menu are decided by Licensee and approved by Railways as per market rates.