Railways to restart E-catering services for passengers

New Delhi: The Indian Railways under the leadership of Hon’ble Minister of Railways and Minister for Commerce and Industry and Consumer Affairs, Food and Distribution Sh. Piyush Goyal has achieved a number of milestones recently in partial fulfillment of the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Digital India’. The launch of the new user interface of the internet ticketing website www.irctc.co.in and the addition of a new real-time feature in IRCTC’s own payment gateway i-Pay during booking of tickets are among the new initiatives of Railways towards improving the user ticket booking experience on digital platforms.

In the latest, IRCTC – the catering and tourism arm of Indian Railways is going to restart its e-catering services for the passengers traveling in the currently operating special trains. IRCTC had started this unique service in the year 2014 whereby passengers could order an array of food of their choice from reputed brands as well as popular regional and local delicacies on phone or online while traveling on trains and get the same delivered to their seats at a railway station. During the pre-COVID period, IRCTC had started clocking 20000 e-catering orders per day.

Due to the onset of the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic declared by WHO and consequent unprecedented lockdown, E-Catering Services was suspended on 22nd March 2020. However, with the gradual resumption of passenger train services and amidst the new normal wherein IRCTC is serving only ‘Ready To Eat’ meals to passengers on trains, there has been an increased demand for resumption of E-catering services.

With the permission from Ministry of Railways coming in, IRCTC is ready to resume the E-catering services on trains shortly in a phase-wise manner. The company is starting the first phase of    E-catering services from February 2021 wherein the service shall commence over thirty numbers Railway Stations catering to approximately. 250 trains. IRCTC is ensuring that all its E-catering partners ensure proper health and hygiene protocols while serving the meals to the passengers.

The passengers shall avail of the services of E-Catering through www.ecatering.irctc.com. E-catering orders through the telephone is also being restored over 1323 shortly. Passengers can also download IRCTC e-catering App “Food On Track” from the various App stores and avail E-Catering Services. For the convenience of the passengers option of Cash on delivery has also been provided.

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