Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, never skip any point to facilitate their passengers. Recently they introduced one more amazing feature of Indian railways, now train passengers can book their meal in train through SMS. Passengers who are traveling in trains without food or pantry card can get food from their home or from their favorite vendors. Indian railways offered the facility of E-catering through which passenger can book meals with the help of Internet. The food which they ordered would deliver to the passenger at a station of his choice.

On January 23, our railway minister Suresh Prabhu formally announced e-catering service on 10 trains out of which three originate in Bihar. The IRCTC will handle this project and will soon extend the project in many trains. Currently, this feature is available on 15707 Katihar-Amritsar Express, 22405 Bhagalpur-Anand Vihar Gareeb Rath Express and 12569 Jaynagar-Anand Vihar Gareeb Rath Express. Train passenger can book their meals through text message or by login IRCTC website. The toll-free number for booking food items is 1323 or you can send a text message MEAL along with PNR number to139 (Click here to Check PNR Status). For example MEAL (PNR). Passengers can place an order multiple times for one or more stations.

How to Book Train Meal through IRCTC eCatering service:

1. Visit and Log into IRCTC eCatering Website
2. List of stations where catering is available on the train’s route will appear in a drop-down box.
3. Select station in which want to receive you meal
4. Select your meal
5. After selection meal, passengers will receive email and SMS of one-time password (OTP)
6. Enter OTP to confirm your order

Limitations of Meal Service through SMS:

• You can not place orders below Rs 60 per location.
• If you canceled your booked meal through the website within 2 hrs of the train’s arrival time at the selected railway station, then no refund would be given to the passenger.

Also Read: IRCTC Cash On Delivery (CoD) Option

Benefits Of Meal Service through SMS:

1. The E-catering service will provide fresh food to the passengers
2. This service is available for confirmed as well as waitlisted ticket holders. If your ticket will not confirm that your order will automatically cancel.
3. Email and SMS regarding cancellation of the order of meal are chargeable, Rs 20 would be deducted from your total amount.
   IRCTC is responsible for the management of the e-catering schemes.

Companies Who Provides Meal through SMS Service:

IRCTC allowed only well-known companies to deliver their product in trains. A supplier who can deliver their products in trains is McDonald’s, KFC, Nirulas, Pizza Hut, Sagar Ratna, Dominos and Wan Kitchen. The cost of food items depends on the IRCTC.

Passengers were excited over the railways’ decision. Amitabh Kumar, a resident of Bakarganj, said: “It is a very good decision by the railways to start the e-catering service on Bihar trains as well. Now, we do not need to carry food from home even if these trains do not have pantry car facility. It is a big relief for passengers.”