Local flavours drive food bookings on Vande Bharat trains

Thiruvananthapuram: The railways has recorded a 50% increase in food bookings on the two Vande Bharat trains operating in the state after the quality of food, packaging and training of staff improved in the last one and a half months. The menu was also revamped by adding more elements of local cuisine, including Thalassery Biryani, Puttu Kadala curry and Appam Egg curry. A few more new items like palappam and unni appam will be added in the coming days, said an official.These menu changes have boosted traveler confidence, as more passengers have begun to book food on the Thiruvananthapuram-Kasargod and Mangalore-Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat trains since the new menu and caterer were introduced. The new menu and catering arrangement came into effect on Nov 15 on the Thiruvananthapuram–Kasargod service and on Dec 15 on the Mangaluru–Thiruvananthapuram route.Earlier, the railways were incurring losses as a large number of passengers chose not to book food while purchasing tickets, largely due to complaints about poor quality, limited variety and unhygienic packaging. Officials said issues such as leaky food containers and improper handling had resulted in frequent complaints.With improvements in taste, packaging, food handling and staff behaviour, food sales have now picked up significantly. On average, around 1,600 breakfast packets are being served per train, compared to about 800 earlier. "We have gone complaint-free for 10 days at a stretch. There are hardly any complaints these days," the official added. That is a sea change from the days when seven to eight complaints were routinely received on each journey. A flight kitchen operator, CAFS has been roped in to supply food on Vande Bharat services. "The company handles food efficiently, trains its staff on how to handle food and how to talk to passengers. There is a briefing every day before the train departs," said the official.He said the food is moved to the station in a specialised vehicle like the ones used to supply food for airlines at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode. "The food is frozen and is then kept in a hot case before it is served. There is no risk of infection. The onboard staff are those who have studied hotel management, food craft and hospitality. They are not overworked. They work for eight hours a day for 15 days a month."IRCTC empanelled flight kitchen operators for Vande Bharat trains in Kerala after regular complaints of poor quality of food on these trains. This is the first time such an operator has been deployed on a Vande Bharat service. Serving good food is crucial in Vande Bharat because it is a premium service with automatic doors that prevent people from buying from stations.