Press Information Bureau

With the objective of bringing about improvement in quality and hygiene of food in trains, Ministry of Railways issued instructions vide Commercial Circular No.24 of 2023. It is envisaged to award contracts for clusters of trains in place of an individual train. Emphasis has been placed on infrastructure development and fixing end-to-end accountability of food production and services onboard.

IRCTC formed route-wise clusters of trains along with identified locations for commissioning of Base Kitchens for supply of meals in trains under the framework of extant policy guidelines. Contracts of clusters of trains have been awarded by IRCTC through a transparent process to the highest bidders, as per the terms and conditions stipulated in the tender documents. Robust monitoring systems and compliance measures have been put in place by IRCTC to ensure compliance of tender conditions by the contractors and prevent any unethical practices or unfair advantages to any contractor.

A total of 24 bidders participated in the tenders for clusters of trains floated by IRCTC, out of which 20 entities have been awarded contracts by IRCTC. No contract was awarded by IRCTC in contradiction of the tender conditions. The details of Letters of Award (LOA), issued to multiple service providers, are published on the website of IRCTC. None of the successful bidders has got 80% of the Cluster A contracts awarded till date.

Receipt of representations, suggestions, grievances, complaints etc. from stakeholders, elected representatives, catering associations, individuals etc. by Railways at various levels is a continuous and dynamic process. These concerns are examined on merits and necessary action is taken accordingly. In 2024-25, Rs. 13.2 Crores of penalties were imposed on complaints received by IRCTC. Further, complaints are continuously monitored on RailMadad Portal.

On an average, 16.5 lakh meals are served per day on the Indian Railways’ network. It is the endeavour of Indian Railways to ensure smooth and uninterrupted services of such a large volume of meals to passengers. Necessary measures are accordingly put in place from time to time to improve overall services to passengers.

To ensure upgradation in services, various provisions have been made in the Circular which inter-alia include instructions regarding qualification and training of staff to be deployed for managing catering services. It has been mandated to deploy Hotel management graduates to supervise and monitor these services. Accordingly, Degree/Diploma Hospitality Monitors are engaged by IRCTC/contractors: 819 are deployed in multiple kitchens for monitoring the kitchen operations and 876 are deployed in trains for monitoring on-board catering services. 

This information was provided by the Union Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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Dharmendra Tewari/ Dr. Nayan Solanki/ Ritu Raj

 

 

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