To cater to the needs of passengers of general sitting coaches, South Western Railway (SWR) has, in association with IRCTC, begun setting up special counters on railway platforms to enable them to buy economy meals, snacks/combo meals and affordable packaged drinking water.
According to a press release issued by Chief Public Relations Officer of South Western Railway Aneesh Hegde, these steps have been taken as per the instructions issued by the Railway Board to make provision for economy meals, snacks/combo meals to be served through extended service counters to be placed on platform near general sitting coaches.
These meals are being supplied from the kitchen units (Refreshment Rooms-RRs and Jan Ahaars-JAs) of IRCTC. The location of these counters has been decided by Zonal Railways so as to align these counters with the location of general sitting coaches on platforms. The provision of this extended service counters on the platforms has been introduced on an experimental basis for a period of six months.
South Western Railway has already extended such service counters at Sri Siddharoodh Swami Hubballi and Krantiveer Sangolli Rayanna Bengaluru railway stations.
At present, IRCTC will be supplying two types of Meals, namely Economy Meal and Snack Meal, which are priced at ₹20 and ₹50, respectively. In the coming days, South Western Railway plans to extend the service to more stations depending on the availability of economy meals and water.
