Newstrack

In-flight caterers to dish up meals for Indian Railways

Praveen K Singh - New Delhi

The Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) plans to engage in-flight caterers to serve Indian Railways (IR). Speaking exclusively to Express Hospitality, Nalin Shinghal, acting managing director of IRCTC, divulged, "In times of low-cost carriers, we need to provide superfluous service including good quality meals. We need to develop a dynamic marketing strategy in association with public and private agencies."

He added that since the quantity of meals to be served to railways is too high, IR will look for more than one caterer for an all-India service. "While in airlines, just 22,000 meals are served, in railways, the number is 2.5 lakh," he informed.

Some of the prominent operators in air catering include SkyGourmet, TajSats, SkyChef, etc. Shinghal said that IRCTC is already in the process of conducting a feasibility study as to how the in-flight caterers can handle supply in such high volumes. The investment involved in the project is estimated to Rs 500 crore in a year.