Indian Railways to move base kitchens to cloud kitchens; Mumbai among first

Mumbai: Following umpteen complaints from passengers about the quality of food served on long-distance trains, a change is finally in the offing. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is set to replace the base kitchens of Indian Railways with cloud kitchens, with Mumbai being among the first places to get this upgrade. The cloud kitchens have begun supplying food packets to trains for almost a month now.
The process of setting up the cloud kitchens operated by professionals and caterers has already begun. At least 200 such kitchens are in the pipeline in IRCTC’s west zone, which covers states such as Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
“In Mumbai the cloud kitchens will come up at Powai, Kurla, Panvel, Thane and Chembur,” said a senior IRCTC official. “Of these, the ones at Kurla are up and running while the others are at different stages. As of now, work on 90 such cloud kitchens is in progress, of which 50 are operational. We intend to get 200-odd kitchens ready in the next three months or so.”
The kitchen at Kurla, located on LBS Road, is the largest one, with a capacity to prepare and deliver 4,000 meals that include breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sources said the private operators running the kitchen would be responsible for delivering them to the pantry cars of long-distance trains in cold storage vans.
The cloud kitchens will be operated on a seven-year contract by different caterers. They will be outfitted with the latest equipment for production and delivery and will be covered by CCTVs. Cleanliness and hygiene will be closely monitored. Most importantly, the railways will not be dependent on one location for the production of food—for instance, the base kitchens in Mumbai, which produce 8,000 to 12,000 meals per day, are located at CSMT and Mumbai Central stations.
According to IRCTC officials, the cloud kitchens will not only give them flexibility in operations but will also end their dependence on base kitchens. For the past several years now, Indian Railways has been producing thousands of food plates for long-distance trains, including premium ones such as Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Tejas Express. More recently, the base kitchens were also supplying meals to Vande Bharat trains.
Sources said that despite starting a live streaming mechanism, announcing fines ranging from ₹5,000 to ₹5 lakh (in November 2023) and even terminating the contracts of those failing to maintain hygiene in the preparation and delivery of food on trains, the complaints of poor-quality food continued. On an average, IRCTC was getting upward of 300 to 350 complaints monthly. Of these, there were around 10 to 12 complaints of a serious nature such as finding foreign objects, cockroaches, insects and particles in the food.
“During my journey from Mangalore to Mumbai, I found the food to be somewhat stale. I not only complained but also posted on social media,” said Kamlakar Shenoy, a resident of Mazgaon, who encountered this problem in June.
The caterers, however, said that the cost margin needed to be taken into account by the railways while fixing the menu tariffs. “Unless that happens, the quality of food is bound to be compromised, and corners will be cut either while procuring raw materials and/or in the preparation,” emphasised a caterer working with Indian Railways. “The pricing needs to be close to market rates. After all, there are very many passengers who use e-catering, ordering food from branded outlets at higher rates.”
IRCTC, meanwhile, said it was getting positive feedback after the launch of the cloud kitchens, with complaints about food quality dropping to 70 to 80 per month, and only one or two being serious complaints. IRCTC officials said that the total number of catering complaints between April 2021 and March 2024 was close to 12,000, during which period they also issued show-cause notices.
Total cloud kitchens: 200
Cloud kitchens that are almost ready: 90
Operational cloud kitchens: 50
Number of trains that will be served daily: 500
Daily meals prepared by cloud kitchens: 1,000-4,000
Complaints on food quality per month: 300-350
Complaints per month since starting cloud kitchens: 70-80