Title - New caterers for 302 trains to be selected shortly

Aiming at improving the quality of food served on trains, railways will select new caterers through tendering process for about 300 Mail and Express trains, including the premier ones like Rajdhani and Shatabdi.

Besides, the Railways are also in the process of setting up 250 base kitchens across the country to prepare about six lakh meals and snacks per day for rail passengers.

The action plan to improve food quality and expediting tendering process for 302 trains, including Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi, was spelt out in details by the tourism and catering wing of the national transporter in the presence of Railway Minister CP Joshi here today.

The minister was keen for improvement in food quality and asked for expediting the tendering process, a senior Railway Ministry official said.

Bidding documents are expected to be submitted by this month-end and the tenders will be opened after 45 days of submission.

Aiming at curbing the monopoly of a few persons cornering all major catering contracts, Railways has decided to limit the number of contracts for contractors.

In the small category of food vendors, a particular contractor will not more than two units in a division. For higher category units operational in Rajdhani, Shatabdi and other mail and express trains, the limit is 10 per cent of all units operational in similar category.

Currently, the Railways provide about six lakh meals and snacks in a day to passengers including 91,000 meals being served in Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains.

It is for the first time in railways that food contractors for all trains and base kitchens are being selected through bidding process in a such a large scale, the official said.

There will be base kitchens at all major stations, including New Delhi, Nizamuddin, Old Delhi, Howrah, Patna, Mumbai, Bhubaneswar, and other originating stations and junctions where meals will be prepared in hygienic conditions.

"Pantry cars in trains will be no longer be utilised for preparing foods and instead they will be used for storing meals and snacks prepared in base kitchens," the official said, adding, "Only hot beverages like tea, coffee and soup will be prepared in pantry cars."

As per the plan, the base kitchens will beset up on railway land near the stations.

The Railway will give land at a nominal fee of Rs 1 per sq feet to caterers for setting up base kitchens.

The total volume of food business in the Railways is estimated to be around Rs 2,000 crore a year.