File photo: Commuters travel in the Chennai-Madurai super fast special train as Southern Railway resumed services after suspension due to COVID-19 outbreak, in Chennai. (Representational image)
Railways has announced that it has decided to restart e-catering services for passengers from the first week of February 2021, Indian Railways informed. The e-catering services were suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier, a Railway official had informed that cooked food supply to passengers in trains under e-catering services, which were suspended as a measure to contain the spread of COVID-19, will resume soon in the Eastern Railway Zone. The e-catering services will be restarted soon at Howrah, Sealdah, Kolkata, Durgapur, Asansol, Malda and Bhagalpur stations under the jurisdiction of the ER, he said.
There are plans to add Barddhaman, Bolpur and Jamalpur in the list of stations from where the e-catering services are provided, the ER spokesperson said.
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With the resumption of several long-distance and special trains, there was a growing demand to resume the services for supplying "hot, healthy and hygienic food to the passengers in the trains by nominated vendors of IRCTC", he said.
The Railway Board has allowed IRCTC to resume the services at selected stations, he said, adding that this will be provided in strict adherence to the COVID protocols.
Under e-catering, services are provided by a large number of food aggregators empanelled by the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Ltd, he said. The food supply services are also made available from outlets at selected stations, the official added.
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