Fifteen firms, including Jubilant Foodworks and Foodworld, are vying to be a part of the business of delivering food to train passengers by using the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation’s (IRCTC) e-catering process.

IRCTC plans to start supplying food to train passengers through prior online bookings. According to IRCTC, the firms that have envisaged interest include Brandavan Food Products, RK Associates and Hoteliers, Rani Kothi Banquets, Ninth Dimensions Hotels and Resorts, Kannelite Facility Management Services, PK Shefi, Hotel Pardeep, Hotel Tulsi, Deepak and Company, Rani Kothi Banquet, Hotel Rajmahal, Bhatia Hotel Pvt Ltd and Satyam Caterers.

These companies have responded to an expression of interest sought by IRCTC to be service providers for supply and delivery of meals in trains. IRCTC started working on the proposal after it got a mandate from the Railways Ministry to start such a service.

“The firms can deliver the meals directly or use the network of food plazas to deliver in trains. We are trying to work out an option where the food ordered in advance can be delivered at a food plaza near the station and kept in warmers before being delivered in trains,” RN Kalita, Director-Catering, IRCTC, told Business Line .

IRCTC will work out a revenue share mechanism between payment service providers, IRCTC and the food service providers.

“The key challenge here is with regards to the liability in case of complaints, or quality issues that arise. While IRCTC is liable for complaints by train passengers, how IRCTC can pass on the liability to the suppliers needs to be seen. After all, there are many players involved in the supply chain,” said Kalita.

Order food online Meanwhile, IRCTC is gearing up to start its online food booking platform, providing a wider menu, by using its network of food plazas. The food will be priced higher than what it provides within trains, and can only be booked by people who have reserved tickets.

At the beginning, IRCTC is planning to launch the service in 25 trains in five zones. For this, it will use the network of 176 food plazas located near the stations.

The pilot project launched by IRCTC in September-end last year on select Delhi-Amritsar route, which took bookings only through phone calls and text messages, delivered 106 meals. The bookings were low because the trials were not advertised, and also because there were two trains that moved during the daytime, when the meals are ordered.

Incidentally, there are already many websites, including travelkhana and railtiffin, that take bookings from passengers to serve food in trains.

There are also IRCTC-approved players such as Comesum, (part of the RK Associates and Hoteliers), which operates Food Junctions across various stations in the country. Comesum is already taking orders for delivery from train passengers through their website as well as on the phone based on information details like train number, coach number and berth number etc and deliver food between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

The company takes orders only across the stations where it is operating its Comesum restaurants. An official at Comesum said the size of the opportunity depends on the zones that players will be assigned post the tendering process and the number of trains that operate in these divisions. Players expect the tendering process to get over within the next two months.

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