Soon, you can eat in style at railway station

Soon, you can eat in style at railway station

Anil Kumar Sastry

MNCs to get space on railway platforms

Snack bars to come up at railway food plazas

Price of the food products to be decided by IRCTC

BANGALORE: Eating out at a railway station may not be as bad an experience as it is now. If the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has its way, people may start preferring the food joints at railway stations.

What is on table is a slew of measures to offer good and hygienic food at affordable across the railway stations in South Western Railway (SWR). State-of-the-art food plazas, cool drink-cum-snack dispensing kiosks, milk parlours, fast food centres, quick food dispensing kiosks, ice cream stalls and food vending machines are proposed.

IRCTC regional manager S. Gagarin told The Hindu here on Saturday that cooperative milk federations in the respective States had been allowed to set up milk parlours on railway platforms. In the case of Karnataka, Karnataka Milk Federation under its brand name Nandini was in the process of setting up such parlours offering flavoured and non-flavoured milk and a host of other milk products.
Food plazas

Food plazas, on the lines of the one operating in Bangalore City Railway Station, are planned at Cantonment, Yeshwanthpur and Kengeri (all in Bangalore), Bellary, Hospet and Gadag Railway Stations by March 2008, Mr. Gagarin said.

To cater to the common man and the well-off, the plazas will have two counters – one to offer food items under controlled prices as per the Railway guidelines and the other multi-cuisine outlets driven by market forces. The main licence holder has the freedom to appoint sub-let major brands in the catering market to sell their products namely, pizzas, burgers, ice creams and other items.

IRCTC has planned fast food centres at major railway stations where food plazas might not work. Such centres will come up at Londa, Dharwad, Bidar, and K.R. Puram (Bangalore). The licence holder will not cook food at these centres, but has to bring food from outside and supply.
Dispensing kiosks

The corporation has allotted space to major beverage brands to set up 48 dispensing kiosks on platforms at major railway stations, including 33 in Bangalore City, four in Cantonment, four in Mysore and one in Hubli.

Apart from selling their branded cool drinks, the kiosks will offer snacks. Thirty-three more kiosks had been allotted to Hubli and Mysore Divisions, Mr. Gagarin said.

Big names such as McDonald and MTR whose annual turnover was more than Rs. 25 crore would be offered space.

These stringent norms were formed only to offer quality food. Initially, six stations – Bangalore City, Cantonment, Yeshwanthpur, K.R. Puram, Mysore and Hubli would have these kiosks.

Besides allowing known brands of ice creams to set up shop on railway platforms, ice creams would be sold at all stalls in a railway station. But IRCTC would decide on the brands to be sold and the price.

There were plans to have food vending machines. The machines would accept coins or currency notes, return change and dispense the required food.