Getting food of your choice, at right time, while traveling by train has never been this easy. You can get food items at your seat using any of the 4 easy ways explained below. All you'll need is a phone to place your order for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It's super easy and quick.
As you all know that food and catering is handled by Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) for railway passengers. To get 'food on track', you can:
1. Call 1323: Pick up your phone and make a call. This is toll free number. Here you can leave your name, mobile number, date and time (at which you wish to receive a callback). The railway food provider will call you back at your mentioned number. You can than order meals and food items of your choice.
2. Visit e catering website: If you are carrying a smartphone or a laptop or any other device through which you can browse on internet, go to www.ecatering.irctc.co.in site. To place your order, first search for availability of food, by entering either station name, PNR number ( a 10 digit number mentioned on top left corner of your ticket), or train number/name. The search form will look like this one -
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| search for food in train |
Next, if the facility is available for you, you will be presented with menu. Select items of you choice and place your order by filling out customer details form -
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| railway e catering customer details |
3. Order meals through mobile App: Go to google play store and download food on track app on your smart phone and install it.
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| food on track irctc app |
This app allows you to order food simply by swiping through it. Best part is that, that in case your ticket is cancelled or remains unconfirmed (as in case of fully waitlisted tickets) your order will get cancelled automatically, and your money will be refunded back to your account. There is also an option of 'cash on delivery'. Though, just like there are benefits of booking tickets online, there are benefits of booking food online too. And if you use Credit/Debit Cards, Net-banking & e Wallets for payment you get 5% discount on product base price.
One of the good feature of this app is that, that it comes complete with order management, making it plain easy for you to deal with ordering of food during train journey. For example, you can view all your booked orders, receive order details and one time password (OTP) on mobile and email, and book meal of your choice using this app.
4. SMS your Order: Those who don't have a smartphone, can still use their simpler phones (capable of sending/ receiving sms messages) to get food on their train seats. SMS is needed to be send on 139. Follow the procedure here to send sms to receive food at your train seat.
That's it. Now you have all the information for getting food of your choice aboard on train. Make use of any of the above methods and make your journey more pleasant and comfortable.