No food bill on trains? You don't need to pay!
What's the story
Regular train passengers would know how rare it is to be issued a bill when ordering food on trains.
Unsurprisingly, incidents of overcharging make the biggest proportion of complaints IRCTC receives.
But Railways is determined not to let it continue: by March end, a policy of "no-bill-no-pay" is going live.
For passengers' convenience, Railways is even installing Point of Sale (POS) machines!
Problem
In 7 months, Railways received 7,000 complaints of overcharging
Most trains except the Rajdhanis, Shatabdis and other high-end trains do not include food prices in tickets, hence passengers have to pay at the time of ordering during the journey.
But they almost never get a bill. The staff says there's no billing book, or that they will bring the bill later, but don't.
During April-October'17, there were over 7,000 complaints of overcharging.
Policy
What is this new policy in the works?
To tackle this problem, Railways has sent out strict notice: by March 31, all trains where food is served on payment basis should display the "no-bill-no-pay" message prominently, so customers know to ask for it.
If they don't get a bill, they won't have to pay even if they have eaten the food.
This policy is widely adopted in malls, theaters and elsewhere.
Process
How is the Railways implementing it?
For this, Railways has deployed 120 inspectors to supervise service on trains. More are being prepared.
They will also record passenger feedback.
PoS machines have been deployed on the SBC-NDLS Karnataka Express as a pilot project to ensure compulsory billing. Another 100 will be commissioned for 26 additional trains.
IRCTC is also publicizing the new policy on its website, where tickets are booked.
Action
Railways has been constantly attempting to ensure transparency
The Railways is on a drive to bring in transparency. Last March, after numerous complaints about no menus on trains, they had tweeted out the official rate list.
Despite this, various caterers were fined 5,000 times during the year for overcharging. Two lost their contracts.
Former Minister Suresh Prabhu had announced plans to segregate production and distribution functions to streamline the process better.
Options
You can also go for branded food
To ensure better services, the Railways started offering food from KFC, McDonalds, Dominos and many other brands to passengers on trains.
If, for whatever reason, they don't get the prepaid food, they would be duly compensated, Railways said.
It also announced plans to replace IRCTC-approved vendors who provide freshly cooked food with ready-to-eat meals from Nestle and others.
Do you know?
How can you get KFC, McDonald's food on trains?
Visit www.ecatering.irctc.co.in, choose the station where you want food delivered, and enter PNR number. Choose from the available options. You can pay online or cash on delivery. Alternatively, call on 1323 or SMS 'MEAL' followed by PNR number to 139. Pay by 'cash on delivery'.