Railways set for change in diet

MUMBAI: Meals served on long-distance trains are set for a dramatic change in the near future. Chairman, Railway Board, Vivek Sahai on Saturday gave shape to the plan of mega kitchens, which have already been announced in the railway budget.
“We have asked the organizers of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi to provide us with the modern kitchen equipment they used during the event.We will start with a master kitchen in New Delhi and in two years, the model will be replicated at kitchens in Mumbai, Chennai, Secundarbad and Howrah,” he said.
Sahai said that there were several complaints regarding food on long-distance trains. “We have a new quality control policy in place, following which the complaints have come down by 35%. It will take time for things to get better,” he said.
Mumbai needs one lakh meals while Delhi, two lakh, for long-distance trains. However, at present, only around 15,000 meals are prepared at base kitchens and most of the food comes from outside. “We are looking at completely stopping foods from outside,” he said.
Answering questions on how stable railway bridges and other infrastructure in Mumbai is considering a tsunami-like situation in India, he said that there are no distressed bridges in Mumbai.
He added that suburban locals between Virar and Dahanu would start when DC-AC conversion is completed by this year-end. This, however, comes as a surprise as a few months ago WR officials said services cannot start for a year as there are two distressed bridges in the section.