Indian Railways To Improve Service, Will Serve Better Quality Airline-Like Food In Trains
Under the new initiative, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) would engage managers and supervisors in all trains for random checking, alongside in premium trains, Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani said.
The Indian Railways provides 12 lakh meals per day, 10 lakh of which is served on-board trains. However, a majority of people are unhappy with the food served - especially the quality. The existing menu that comprises six-seven items, is often low on quality and also at times compromised on hygiene. Last year, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in its report had termed the food served at stations and in trains "unfit for human consumption".
Now, as an upgrade, soon airline-like food would be on the plates of train passengers as the Railways has decided to initiate major reforms in its catering services under which it would "rationalise the menu" and use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and CCTV cameras to flag irregularities in preparation. And to supervise the quality, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) module is being installed at these base kitchens, he said to find anomalies through CCTV footage and raise issues for initiating actions.
Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani, on Friday, said the "high-in-quality-and-taste" food would be served from July, first on premium trains such as Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto on experimental basis and then on all other trains. IRCTC Chairman-and-Managing Director MP Mall said each of these base kitchens would cost over Rs 1 crore to set up and they would come up in cities such as Howrah, Kanpur, Raipur, Bilaspur among other places.
According to a report by PTI, the menu would be simple, could be in the form of combo meal, comprising at best two to three items similar to what is served by airlines. High in quality and taste.
The IRCTC would be directly in charge of the 68 new modern-base kitchens coming up across the country. All the kitchens would be ready by December 2019, fitted with CCTV cameras for centralised monitoring, the officer said. These facilities would be provided with high-end kitchen wares with provision for separate cooking of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food, Lohani said. The base kitchen at New Delhi station alone would be equipped to prepare 20,000 to 25,000 meals a day, he said.
