The Railway Board is contemplating a revamp of the Rajdhani-Shatabdi Express train’s AC-2 and 3 coaches with tea of Rs 20 and service charge of Rs 50 on social media.
The Railway Board is contemplating a revamp of the Rajdhani-Shatabdi Express train’s AC-2 and 3 coaches with tea of Rs 20 and service charge of Rs 50 on social media. Orders can be issued in this regard by next week.
A senior Railway Board official said that taking catering facility is optional while booking tickets in premium trains like Rajdhani-Shatabdi, Duronto, Gatimaan, Vande Bharat Express etc. But if railway passengers order breakfast, lunch and dinner during the middle of the journey, then they will have to pay an additional service charge of Rs 50, which will be separate from the rate of food or breakfast.
Railway Board had issued order in 2017
At the time of booking tickets in these premium trains, no additional service charge is levied from the railway passengers who have taken catering. Railways takes the catering charge from such passengers at the time of booking. It may be noted that in June 2017, the Railway Board had issued an order saying that passengers who did not take the catering facility while booking tickets, an additional service charge of Rs 50 will be charged from the passenger even if only tea or coffee is ordered during the journey. In this regard, in 2018, IRCTC again sought the opinion of the Railway Board on the service charge of Rs 50. The board had issued orders to keep the service charge unchanged.
The matter went viral on social media
Recently, the matter of charging Rs 50 service charge went viral on social media when a passenger shared the picture of the bill. The traveler had paid ₹70 for a cup of tea. It was seen in the picture that the passenger paid a service charge of Rs 50 for tea worth Rs 20. The incident took place when the passenger was going from Delhi to Bhopal in Shatabdi Express train on June 28.
Railway’s logic of service charge
The Railway Board argues that in advance ticket booking, the catering contractor is aware that how many passengers have to be given tea, breakfast, lunch and dinner during the journey. But in the middle of the journey, the railways has to ask for food from hotels-restaurants etc. at the next stations to make arrangements for catering when orders are received. Apart from this, in addition to advance booking in each train, the contractor has to suffer loss due to non-sale of food while carrying food. Therefore, a provision of additional Rs 50 service charge has been made on food, tea and coffee during the journey.
Apart from this, there is a ban on the sale of retail food items like chips, biscuits, namkeen etc. in premium trains. The contractor cannot compensate for the loss of perishable food. Whereas retail food items are sold in 400 mail-express trains. Therefore, no additional service charge is taken in these.
