New Rail Neer unit to quench railway thirst

Kochi: Rail Neer, the bottled mineral water brand from the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism  Corporation (IRCTC) is giving its competitors a run for their money with its new 75,000 litre capacity plant at Parassala becoming fully functional. Earlier, its supply was limited to major stations like Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam.

Now, the bottled mineral water brand is available at all stations in Thiruvananthapuram division covering Kerala. While most branded companies charge exorbitant rates for bottled mineral water, the Rail Neer sells at just Rs 15 for a 1 litre bottle and Rs 10 for 500 ml bottle.

“We are now producing 5,400 cartons covering all A-1, A and B category railway stations in the division besides covering Madurai and Calicut,” said Sreekumar Sadanandan,  regional director, IRCTC.  The Rs 5 crore bottling plant at Parassala was delayed by a year after the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) backtracked from its promise to allocate water from its Neyyar Dam project following opposition by local people.

“We are now sourcing the raw material from wells and borewells on a temporary basis. Talks are on with the KWA to resolve the issue as we requested for only 0.25 per cent of the water drawn from the Neyyar dam,” the official said.

Also, the IRCTC has set a 15-stage purification process against seven usually undertaken by branded companies. Recently, the Southern railways warned vendors from selling bottled mineral water at excessive price and set the price at Rs 15 for a one-litre bottle.