IRCTC will take the catering service in all trains with pantry cars by the year-end. There are about 350 trains including Rajdhani, Shatabdi, and Duronto which are equipped with pantry cars. Till now, zonal railways were managing services in majority trains, as per the catering policy 2010.
The railways have decided to do so in order to improve the onboard food quality. They will also be hiring the two reputed companies to do the third party audits at pantry cars, base kitchens, and food stalls to ensure best practice. Apart, the Railways has undertaken a three-week drive to inspect food quality and hygienic condition at base kitchens.
The Railways formed the catering policy in 2005, which instructs IRCTC to do catering for all trains. But in 2010, when Mamata Banerjee was the Railway minister, the catering responsibility was taken away from the IRCTC and given to the zonal railways. Since then the complaints against food quality were increasing constantly. Now, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has decided to go for a new catering policy aiming to improve food services at rail premises.
The new catering policy was announced in February under which IRCTC was given catering responsibility with stringent guidelines. The new policy envisages separation of cooking and distribution of food. Now options have been given to passengers in a few Shatabdi, Rajdhani and Duronto trains to opt out of the catering services while booking tickets.