Soon, food vending machines at all railway stations

After ticket and tea-and-coffee vending machines, the railways have begun setting up food and beverage machines at all suburban stations, reports Rajendra Aklekar.

Eating out at a railway station may soon be a more pleasant experience.

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After ticket and tea-and-coffee vending machines, the railways have begun setting up food and beverage machines at all suburban stations.

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) General Manager Rajiv Dutt Sharma said state-of-the-art food plazas, cool drink-cum-snack dispensing kiosks, milk parlours, fast food centres, ice cream stalls and food vending machines have been proposed.

This is part of an initiative by IRCTC to improve the ambience inside railway stations.

“The food vending machines will dispense snacks and beverages. The machines will accept coins and notes and dispense the required food,” Sharma said.

Machines have been already put up at Bhandup and Byculla stations on the Central Railway and will soon begin functioning.

The state government has also been allowed to set up milk parlours on railway platforms. In the case of Maharashtra, milk bars are being set up at 70 railway stations offering flavoured and non-flavoured milk and a host of other milk products.

The food vending machines project began two years ago when IRCTC at a national level invited bids from all major retail and beverage companies having automatic vending machine operations, which are members of an open panel.

Asked what's the big deal about machines, a senior railway official said though the machines will be placed in the stalls so that they are maintained and monitored, they will allow commuters to pay the precise amount and chances of overcharging by stall vendors will be cut down completely.