Free meals on late Rajdhanis, Shatabdis

New Delhi: The next time you travel on a Rajdhani, Shatabdi or Duranto and the train is late, don’t fear you’ll go hungry. If any of these trains runs over two hours late, the Railways will provide free meals. Also, dhokla, fish moily, murg jalfarezzi, chettinadu chicken, dum aloo Kashmiri and upma will be among the dishes on the menu, as regional cuisine along with pre-packed meals of reputed brands will be served to passengers.

After a directive from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to substantially improve passenger amenities, the Railways on Thursday unveiled a big revamp of its menu, while not hiking rates. The revised menu will start from August 13.

“If the trains run late by two hours or more, passengers will be served lunch/dinner and tea/coffee free of charge, with the zonal railways bearing the additional cost,” an internal circular said. As in planes, meals will be served from trolleys.

The zonal railways have also been asked to fix special menus for diabetic patients. Passengers travelling a short distance (between two stations) will be served tea/coffee free of cost.

Also, passengers boarding a train will be given aerated drinks, chcach (butter milk), coconut water or Lassi as a “welcome drink”.

Besides, each coach in the trains will have mini-pantry with facilities for deep freezer and hot boiler.

“The ingredients to be used in preparations of meals should be from reputed brands. Dals (cooked-pulses) to be served should be thick and not watery,” says the circular.

There will be no repeat of the menu on the same day and the passengers will get varieties of the meals during their journey.