The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : IRCTC to revive base kitchens

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 15, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

IRCTC to revive base kitchens

Anil Kumar Sastry

They will come in state-of-the-art forms

To be located at a distance of 200 km from each other
Cell kitchens will also come up in Bangalore and Hubli

BANGALORE: In a bid to revolutionise in-train catering facility, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is all set to revive base kitchens in a state-of-the-art form. Henceforth, they will be called cell kitchens.

Instead of the food prepared in pantry cars attached to trains, passengers will be served food picked up from the cell kitchens located at major railway stations.

Base kitchens came into being in the 1980s when the late Madhavrao Scindia was Railway Minister. However, these kitchens almost became redundant over a period of time. Contractors appointed by the IRCTC preferred to bring food from outside or prepare it in the pantry cars. Hygiene and quality have been the casualty with food brought from outside or prepared in pantry cars.

“We made every attempt to address these two issues but did not succeed,” said S. Gagarin, Regional Manager, IRCTC, South Western Railway (SWR). Also, cooking food on railway platforms affected the hygiene and cleanliness of the premises, he said.

Mr. Gagarin told The Hindu that the corporation would set up at least 100 cell kitchens across the country in the first phase and these would ideally be located at a distance of 150 km to 200 km from each other.

Contractors would set up the kitchen at the railway stations according to the specifications laid down by the IRCTC.

As the Railways preferred biodegradable packing material, food would be served in aluminium foil containers, he said.

In the SWR region, cell kitchens will initially come up at the Bangalore City Railway Station and Hubli railway station. The facility will later be extended to Arsikere, Davangere, Vasco, Gulbarga, Shimoga and Mysore.

Besides supplying food to trains, the contractor can open a counter to serve food at the station and also supply food to other stalls at the station.

Pantry cars are attached to 30 trains that touch Bangalore City Railway Station. The contractor would begin supplying food to eight of these trains from next year, he said.

The trains were — Karnataka Express, Jan Shatabdi Express, Lalbagh Express, Gandhidham Express, Jodhpur Express, Chennai Express and Ajmer Express, Mr. Gagarin said.

The contractor would also be allowed to cater to trains that do not have pantry cars.

Mr. Gagarin said that contractors would have to cook food only in cell kitchens once the contracts of all pantry cars expire. Cooking on platforms would be prohibited, he said.

The pantry cars would be used to heat the food and store beverages, he added.

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