GUWAHATI, April 23 - In order to provide facilities of meals of passengers� choice during train journey, 13 service providers have been engaged by Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) at eight stations of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR).
The eight stations are Guwahati, New Bongaigaon, Lumding, New Tinsukia, Dimapur, Katihar, Kishanganj and New Jalpaiguri.
�The system is known as E-catering through which passengers can avail the option of food of their choice delivered right in their berth on arrival of the train at the station. And the payment can be made only after receipt of the food,� said NFR Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Pranav Jyoti Sharma.
Apart from these eight stations, vendor empanelment for Kamakhya, New Coochbehar, New Alipurduar, Dibrugarh Town, Rangiya, Badarpur and Agartala stations is under process to provide this facility to more passengers.
IRCTC launched the E-catering project a few months ago with the objective of facilitating passengers to book meals of their choice. Sharma said the Ministry of Railways has also decided to widen the reach of this scheme to more stations based on response and feedback received from the passengers.
�Under this scheme passengers are able to get pre-ordered meals of their choice at stations. IRCTC has established a call centre and has also operationalised an E-catering website www.ecatering.irctc.co.in for this purpose. Passengers can pre-order the meal from the different options available as per their choice, for delivery at the opted stations through the e-catering website and phone or SMS call centre. E-catering is available on prepaid basis, i.e. online payment as well as Cash on Delivery (COD) basis. The vendor delivers the pre-ordered meal to the customer on stationary train at the opted station,� said the NFR CPRO.