Now, a common recipe book for rail caterers

In an attempt to standardise food served on trains across the country, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation has introduced a common recipe book to be used by all private caterers, dishing out snacks and meals to travellers.

"We have prepared a recipe book in collaboration with Institute of Hotel Management  which will be issued to all the base kitchens who supply food on trains," Rakesh Tandon, MD, IRCTC said.

The recipe book will be issued to the approximately 100 base kitchens across the country to ensure that there is a standardisation of food across trains in the country, he said.

Tandon, who inspected the base kitchens in the city which provide food for trains like the Rajdhani, said that feedback by commuters will ensure quality control.

Also, there is a need to make passengers aware about monitoring the quality of the food on the trains, he said.

The IRCTC will work towards having menu cards installed on every coach of the train which will provide food details and call numbers in the event of any complaints or suggestions.

"The menu will provide complete details of what will be served, its quantity and toll-free numbers that travelers can use in case of complaints," Tandon said. The railways already has already put in place a toll-free number 1800-111-139 on which passengers can give their complaints, Tandon said.

The facility started in November last year and the number has been used by many commuters. We are getting many calls on a monthly basis," he said, adding last month alone we got 600 feedback calls.