Railways to serve local foods to passengers: Ashwini Vaishnaw

In the next 12 to 18 months, you will see a huge change in the catering system in Railways, the minister said

Indian Railways will serve regional foods, including millet based products, to passengers in trains and at stalls on platforms, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said.

Having received a lot of complaints pouring in about the railways not serving local foods in trains and as well as at platform or in food courts, the minister said a policy decision had been taken to serve local cuisine to passengers.

“In the next 12 to 18 months, you will see a huge change in the catering system in the Railways, " he said.

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The new policy will be applicable to new catering contractors. The existing contractor of pantry cars or food supplier will end by next 12 to 18 months. After that you can see local foods available in trains, he said.

In the new catering policy, the Railway Board gave the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) the flexibility to customise its menu, with an aim to improve its food catering services and give more options to the passengers, including making available regional food.

The railway board, in its recent order, also said that “As a measure to improve catering services in trains, it has been decided to give IRCTC the flexibility to customise the menu so as to include the items of regional cuisines/preferences, seasonal delicacies, requirement during festivals, food items as per the preferences of different group of passengers such as diabetic food, baby food, health food options, including millet based local products, etc."

IRCTC needs to ensure that quality and standards of food and service is maintained and safeguards, said an official in the railways.

Passengers from mostly southern states would often complain about the lack of regional food compared to the standardised ones. The latest policy would not only help in improving the food quality but also customise the menu according to the destination. For instance, a train to Karnataka will have Vada, Idli and Dosa while a Gujarat bound train will have local delicacies like fafda and dhokla.