The railways claim that it would handle the catering services on board and at stations in a much effective manner. Under the catering policy 2010, it is proposed to have a nationwide grid of base kitchens which will be state-of-the-art in terms of technology and processes which will supply meals to the mobile catering units on the railways network.

Addressing the mediapersons at Rail Bhawan here on Friday, Vivek Sahai, chairman, Railway Board said, the monitoring and supervisory mechanism will be institutionalised by the zonal railways and the performance of the service providers would be closely monitored by means of scheduled inspections, quality checks and annual performance appraisal. There will be provisions for strong punitive action against the non-performers and these powers will be delegated to the zonal railways down to the divisional level for bringing about an effective check on the quality of services. “We will ensure that monitoring mechanism is such that immediate redressal of complaints is done,” he added.

For improving the catering services some changes will be made in bidding documents. Standard bid documents will be prepared by enlisting necessary assistance from the best in the industry. This is being done for quality assurance, said Sahai. Further, measures will be taken to control monopolies in railway catering.

As far as the issue of tariff revision is concerned, the railway board will periodically look into the issue as and when required and will consider the proposals coming from different zones.