[sadhuji]

The quality of food served in the Indian railways either through the onboard pantry cars or from outlets on important stations, has always been of a miserably low standard. Whether you are journeying in the northern route or the southern ones, you are never happy with the fare dished out. To add to the miseries are the rude behavior of the waiters – to them you are just one more hungry or thirsty customer. The game they play with regard to return the changes are innumerable – they will hide the coins they collect from others and demand more coins from you. What they do with their coin collection remains a mystery.

In view of the disenchantment of travelers with the system presently in vogue, the railways have decided to have a toll-free phone number, on which passengers can lodge their complaints about the quality, quantity, price, and even standard of the catering service. The toll-free number is 1800111139. Passengers travelling by any train and in any part of the country can register their complaints and the operator will note down the train/PNR number etc of the passenger and give them a complaint number for future reference. The complaints will be sent directly to the IRCTC managing director, who will then probe the matter and fix responsibility.

In addition, IRCTC will be setting up 52 new sites for food plazas/fast food units. The opening of food plazas at numerous identified stations are expected to ease the situation of availability of good food to passengers. The railways have also decided to augment the supply of quality drinking water by setting up two more "Rail Neer" manufacturing plants at Pallur (Chennai) and Ambernath (Mumbai). The existing plants are at Danapur (Bihar) and Najafgarh (Delhi). However, railways have raised the price tag of Rail Neer from Rs 10 to Rs 12.