Railways removes service charges for on-board food, beverages

The prices of tea and coffee will be the same for all passengers, regardless of whether they pre-book or order on the train

Days after the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) stopped collection of service charges from customers in hotels and restaurants, the Railways also removed the on-board service charges on all meals and beverages not pre-ordered on premium trains.

Prices of tea and coffee will be the same for all passengers, irrespective of whether pre-booked or ordered on the train, and will see no increase in the rates.

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Under the previous norm of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), if the person had not booked meals along with their train ticket, they had to pay an additional Rs 50 while ordering food during the journey, even for a Rs 20 cup of tea or coffee.

Now, passengers on board premium trains such as Rajdhani, Duronto or Shatabdi who haven’t pre-booked their meals will pay Rs 20 for tea, the same as the amount paid by those who pre-booked their meals. Earlier, the cost of such non-pre-booked tea was Rs 70, including Rs 50 service charge.

The issue of service charge collected by the IRCTC for instant ordering of tea and food on board became a big issue after some railway passengers posted how they ended up paying Rs 50 as service charge for a Rs 20 cup of tea.

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Though breakfast, lunch and dinner ordered while on board travelling will cost Rs 50 more than the ones pre-booked along with the tickets, charges for morning tea will be the same for both categories of passengers.

Previously, the rates for breakfast, lunch and evening snacks were Rs 105, Rs 185 and Rs 90, respectively, while an additional charge of Rs 50 used to be levied with each meal. Now the same will cost Rs 155, Rs 235, and Rs 140 respectively for breakfast, lunch and evening snacks, with the service charge included in the cost.

“The removal of the service charge will only reflect in the prices of tea and coffee. In this, the passenger who has not pre-booked will pay the same amount as a passenger who has booked it. However, for all other meals the service charge amount has been added to the cost of meals for non-booked facilities,” a railways official said.

The CCPA had earlier issued guidelines to prevent unfair trade practices and violation of consumer rights when it came to levying service charges in hotels and restaurants. The CCPA had said that no hotel or restaurant can “force” a consumer to pay service charge.