What is E-catering service in train?
Food is yet another important part of life especially when we go for a long journey with train then we love to enjoy different types of food.
Many passengers love to try different types of meals and snacks available on different stations while train halts for some time on a platform but such foods that are sold by vendors on the stations are unhygienic to eat because they are kept open and there is no guarantee of the purity of food even such foods don’t have good quality and taste.
This is the main reason why many passengers carry lunch with them prepared from home which is best solution for eating healthy and good food and get rid of such kind of problem.
Every long route trains also have pantry car which makes the food available for the passengers at any time like milk, water, lunch, dinner and some packed items but still the foods of pantry car are very costly and it has no taste.
Some time it has been seen that the pantry car of some trains are in very bad condition and the staff working in these pantry car do not take proper precautions while cooking food like they don’t wear caps and gloves while preparing food which make it unhygienic.
Also the price of meals available in pantry is car is higher than the normal rate and taste of the food is also worthless therefore many people avoid ordering food from pantry.
Many years ago Indian Railway started food service in the long route trains for passengers. The motive behind offering this service is to provide good quality meals to the passengers and brought the best solution for those who want to avoid eating from stations or pantry.
What is E-catering service in train?
In Indian railway, E-catering service or Food catering service is a type of service provided by railway in which passengers travelling in the train can order foods on their seats while in a train.
There are more than 500 restaurants authorized by Indian railway that provides e-catering services to the passengers.
These restaurants are private and approved by FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India).
There are many famous restaurants that serves the e catering services such as Domino’s where passengers can order different types of pizza.
How to Order Food Online in Train?
For best e-catering service visit https://www.ecatering.irctc.co.in which is managed by IRCTC. There are other websites also available that serve foods on train.
You have to just provide your PNR number (which will be used to track your seat and coach number ) and then choose among 500+ restaurants from where you have to order food.
Choose food from the menu and place the order and fresh, hot food will be provided on your seat.
What is Onboard Catering Service in Train?
This is a third party food catering service in which foods vendors at any big stations (where train halts for long duration) takes food order from the passengers by visiting compartment to compartment and deliver foods to the passengers on their seat.
Some time, in onboard catering order of the food is taken one or two stations before and food is provided at the upcoming station where the third party vendor’s location is situated and food is provided on the passenger’s seat at that station.
What is pantry car coach?
Pantry car is a coach that is generally attached to such trains that travels long distance.
Pantry car coach has a well equipped kitchen, where food is cooked and served to the passengers travelling in the train on demand.
In this coach not only foods are cooked but also stored and kept so that anyone can order food at any time. All types of foods such as breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided.
Benefits of E-Catering Service
The benefit of e - catering service in train is that passengers can easily choose among thousands of well known restaurants and they can enjoy any meal they want and get rid of limited stocks available in the pantry car.
You can enjoy pizza from Dominos or healthy and fresh meal from Haldiram, also these items are fresh and food is served on your seat where as the meals provided from the pantry car of the train may not be fresh especially in a long route trains that takes more than 24 hours to travel from source to destination.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is more better Pantry Car or E-catering?
As compared to Pantry car food service in train, E-catering service is better because in e-catering service passenger is free to order food from various different restaurants. Moreover, passenger can order any type of food ranging from meals to snacks, sweets etc. whereas limited food varieties are available in pantry car and passengers can buy only those meals that are served by the pantry car.
Also there is lot of difference between the pantry car food and e-catering in terms of quality and services.
In e-catering service freshly prepared food is served on the seat of the train from the restaurant you choose whereas in pantry car the food can be stored for several days because most of the items in the train are of the day when train was started from the source station.
E-catering service has almost changed the face of food in Indian Railway.