Rajdhani passengers may crib about Railway caterers, but won’t go off the beaten track

Rajdhani Express passengers and the onboard caterers are like an estranged couple: their relationship may be strained, but they are not seeking divorce, despite the daily dose of complaints.

Railways message boards are filled with complaints about the watery daal, the stale food, and the uncooked rice served on Rajdhani trains, whose fare optionally includes food charges. However, hardly 10-15 per cent of passengers decline the food option.

E-catering done through Railways’ IRCTC has gone up to 7,000 meals a day from 400 over the past two years. Another player in the catering space – Railyatri – too has seen a 400 per cent jump year-on-year.

“Worst food, pathetic pantry,” complains a Dibrugarh-Rajdhani Express traveller. Half-cooked rice, watery dal, rues another. “Our whole family is suffering from food poisoning after travelling,” claims yet another Rajdhani traveller.

An Ahmedabad Rajdhani traveller was hungry for long hours — like several others — as food was served late owing to train delays. A passenger on the Bengaluru Rajdhani complained that the pepper sachet served was well past its expiry date. Premium all-AC trains such as Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express, which have limited stops, traditionally include the cost of food in the fare, much like full-service airlines do.

Since last year, responding to complaints about the food, the Railways started allowing users to opt out of paying for meals. “We have given people the option in 32 Rajdhanis and Shatabdis by not charging them for prepaid food. But people still want to have it. Over 80-85 per cent prefer the Railways food. We are also making improvement in the food,” Mohammad Jamshed, Member-Traffic, told BusinessLine.

This could be explained by the fact that these trains make fewer stops, the onboard food is still relatively cheap, and booking the meals along with the travel ticket is just convenient.

Meanwhile, more passengers on other trains, where ticket fares do not include the cost of meals, are booking their food online.

Slew of e-caterers

The actual numbers ordered through e-catering on trains will be much more as travellers also book their food and beverages through other players such as Railyatri, which is backed by investors such as Omidyar, Helion Ventures and Infosys’ Nandan Nilekani; Travelkhana; Patna-based railrestro; and Nagpur-based trainbhojan.

They have tied up with local vendors across the railway network. One of the firms’ website indicated it had at least 13-14 lakh bookings a day.

Declining to share details on the number of meals booked, citing “competitive reasons,” RailYatri’s Manish Rathi said the company has seen nearly 400 per cent year-on-year growth in e-catering since 2014. And while Railyatri does get orders from Rajdhani and Shatabdi users, such orders account for not more than 5 per cent of the total orders.

COMMENT NOW