Top five food brands serving food on Wheel
Top five food brands serving food on Wheel

In the last one year, the new BJP-led government has done so much to speed up the food delivery service in the long-running trains from major cities. From tying up with leaders in the fast food industry to joining hand with the delivery marketplaces like foodpanda and healthy QSR in the online segment like Hello Curry, IRCTC is very much focused on providing good food in the train.

Earlier this year, Minister for Railways, Suresh Prabhu at the announcement of Rail budget has said, “Food can be ordered through the IRCTC website at the time of booking of tickets. He said, the Railways is working to integrate the best food chains of the country into this project.”

And to get a clear picture of the same, let’s have a look at the top food chains that have partnered with IRCTC to serve food to the hungry customers in the train.

It’s pizza mania in Train

Domino’s, was one of the first few restaurant that collaborated with IRCTC to serve its fast food in the train. “As per the arrangement, a passenger travelling in a train without pantry car will be able to place an order for a pizza of his choice either online (www.ecatering.irctc.co.in) or through a phone call which would be served at his seat in the train enroute,” said a senior IRCTC official at the time of the partnership.

Initially the services was offered by Domino’s Pizza at twelve stations including, Agra Cantt. (AGC),Alwar, Jaipur, Ambala, Jalandhar Cantt, Mathura Junction, Muzzafar Nagar, New Delhi, Pathankot Cantt, VAPI, Bharuch and Vadodara. 

On a Scrumptious ride

Lite Bite Foods, one of the largest Indian F&B retail, which has some of the amazing brands in its bouquet like Punjab Grill, Baker Street, Asia 7 is another important restaurant company to joins IRCTC to offer delicious and high quality cuisines in the trains.

“We are delighted to tie up with Indian Railways; we look forward to cater passengers across the country with best of our delicacies. Every passenger can now opt for his/her favourite cuisine, who earlier preferred to munch chips and biscuits than buying food on the train,” said Rohit Aggarwal, Director, Lite Bite Foods at the announcement.

The services will be offered at New Delhi, Nizamudddin, Old Delhi and Delhi Cantt railway stations.

Taking a ‘Crunchy’ ride

KFC is the next to partner with IRCTC which after successfully delivering the Domino’s pizza to passengers in train, has partnered with the QSR major.

The restaurant will serve trains passing through New Delhi railway station, Vishakhapatnam, Hyderabad (Kacheguda) and Bengaluru (Yeshwantpur) stations.

The service will initially be limited to trains, which lack pantry cars and subsequently be expanded to trains such as, the Rajdhani and Duronto.

‘Ghar ka Khana’ on the Wheel

Hello Curry, food start-up announced its association with IRCTC online ticketing system for railways, to supply rail passengers with "wholesome healthy meal options" during their journey by placing orders on IRCTC website (www.ecatering.irctc.co.in).

"With Hello Curry selling Biryanis and parathas with our array of curry pots in our award-winning packaging, passengers now have access to complete Indian meals on the train", said Raju Bhupati Hello Curry Founder & CEO.

Hello Curry menu would be available for all the passengers boarding different trains at Secunderabad station which will soon extend to Delhi, Bengaluru, Vizag and Pune.

Ensuring the ‘Delivery’ in train

foodpanda, India’s largest online food ordering platform join hands with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC),  to allow customers to order meals of their choice through foodpanda’s aggregator model, and allow them to order from a wide variety of cuisine options.

Robin Kalita, Director, Catering Services, IRCTC, “At IRCTC, it has been our endeavour to extend best possible services to our passengers. Food forms a very important part of the travel experience and IRCTC takes immense care to offer healthy and hygienic food to its travellers on-board.

 
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