Menu on Rail App by Railway
Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways and Coal launched a new Mobile App ‘Menu on Rails’, a Mobile Application developed by Railway for creating awareness to the Railway Passengers for the items served to them on their Rail Journey, on 11.06.2018 Railway announced through a press release. Following are the salient features of Menu on Rail App by Railway.
Related Post: Railway Food Menu Rates
Salient features of the Mobile APP named “Menu on Rails” are as under :
- Mobile App displays menu served on all type of trains
- For Mail/Express trains, food items are covered in 4 categories namely : Beverages, Breakfast, Meals and A-La-Carte
- Rates for standard food items like Tea, Coffee, Packaged Drinking Water, Janata Khana, Standard Veg (Thali), Standard Non-veg (Thali), Standard Veg (Casserole) and Standard Non-veg (Casserole), are given both for train as well as stations (Excluding Food Plazas and Fast Food Units)
- A-La-Carte includes list of 96 items under the categories of Breakfast, Light Meals, Combo Meals, Non Veg, Jain Food, Sweets, Diabetic foods etc
- Mobile App also displays the menu to be served in Rajdhani/ Shatabdi/ Duronto group of trains where foods are pre booked by passengers at the time of booking their tickets itself.
- Food items (Pre Booked) to be served are displayed separately for EC and CC classes in case of Shatabdi trains and 1A, 2A and 3A classes for Rajdhani and Duronto trains. In case of Duronto trains, food items for Sleeper class are also displayed. Menu is also given for late running of these trains.
- Food items (Pre Booked) to be served in Gatiman and Tejas trains are also displayed.
- Food item rates displayed are inclusive of taxes to avoid any confusion on taxation.
- Mobile App will be available on Android and iOS platforms.
- Website version is also available for users.
- Mobile App will help in creating awareness among Railway passengers about food items available and price. In case of pre booked foods like Shatabdi/ Rajdhani/ Duronto / Gatiman/ Tejas etc passengers will become aware about the food items and quantity to be served to them in case they have pre booked their foods.
- In case of Mail/ Express trains it will help in controlling the overcharging of catering items.
Revision in Tariff of Tea and Coffee by Railway
Food ordered through the ‘Menu on Rail’ app will be available for four train categories, namely Mail, Express, Humsafar trains in first category, Rajdhani Express, Shatabdi Express and Duronto Express trains in second category, Gatimaan Express train in third category and Tejas Express train in fourth category. According to the report, the app will be available on iOS and Android smartphones. Along with food items, the app will also display their prices. Interestingly, the Finance Ministry had recently clarified that the GST (Goods and Services Tax) rate applicable on food and beverage items served by Indian railways and Railway on trains and railway stations will be 5%. Since the rate was earlier 18%, this came as a huge relief for passengers.
Meanwhile, a website is also being developed by Indian Railways to provide information to railway passengers or users. Also, the website will be linked to e-ticketing. Apart from the ‘Menu on Rail’ app, Indian Railways is also going to launch MADAD app for its passengers. The MADAD app will allow railway passengers to file complaints relating to their travel and facilities at stations, for faster redressal. Interestingly, the national transporter is also likely to launch another app called IR SUGAM app in the coming days. Through IR SUGAM app, information related to freight business will be provided to railway passengers, customers or users.
Mode of booking for E-catering services
- On-line, the website address is www.ecatering.irctc.co.in
- Through mobile app, ‘food on track’ which can be downloaded on Android/IOS phones.
- By making a call on 1323.
- Through SMS, by typing MEAL and sending to 139.
Payment options available for making a booking are as under
- Website: –Prepaid and Cash on Delivery (COD)
- Mobile App: –Prepaid and Cash on Delivery (COD)
- On Call:- Cash on Delivery (COD)
- SMS: –Cash on Delivery (COD)
Meals of your choice during train journey
North East Frontier Railway announced that to provide facilities of meals of their choice during train journey, 13 (thirteen) service providers have been engaged by Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation in 8 (eight) station of N.F. Railway. These eight stations are Katihar, Kishanganj, New Jalpaiguri, New Bongaigaon, Guwahati, Lumding, Dimapur and New Tinsukia. The system is known as E-catering. Through which passenger can avail the option of food of their choice delivered right into their berth on arrival of the train at station. And the payment can be made only after receipt of the food.
Apart from the above stations, vendor empanelment for Kamakhya, New Cochbehar, New Alipurduar, Dibrugarh Town, Rangiya, Badarpur and Agartala stations are in process to provide this facility to more and more passengers.
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation has launched the E-catering project with the objective to facilitate passengers to book meals of their choice few months ago. The project has been extended time to time to cover more number of trains on Indian Railways. Ministry of Railways has also decided to widen the reach of this scheme to more stations based on response/feedback received from the passengers and the need to ensure provision of catering services to travelling passengers. Under this scheme passengers are able to get pre-ordered meals of their choice at stations. Presently, station based e-catering is available at 409 stations all over India Railway.
Rilway has established a call centre and has also operationalized E-catering website www.ecatering.irctc.co.in for this purpose. Passengers can pre-order the meal from the different options available as per their choice, for delivery at the opted stations through the e-catering (website and phone/SMS call centre). E-catering is available in Pre-paid basis i.e. online payment as well as Cash on delivery (COD) basis. Vendor delivers the pre-ordered meal to customer on stationary train at the opted station.
Non veg. Food 150 rupees or non veg 140 no biling