Fresh meals served on some premium long-distance trains were affected on Wednesday, even as fried snacks at suburban stations may disappear from railway stalls. Indian Railways has started to feel the impact of the LPG crisis due to the war in West Asia.
Sources at the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) said its cloud kitchen at Sewri, which prepares meals for 4,500 passengers on the Central and Western Railways daily, was unable to cook as it ran out of LPG.
Sewri’s cloud kitchen provides meals for premium trains like Vande Bharat Express, Rajdhani Express, Duronto Express, Shatabdi and Tejas Express. Railway officials said that, as a backup, they have stocked ready-to-eat food items in the pantry wagon of the Rajdhani Express departing from CSMT.
In Mumbai, suburban commuters are also likely to be affected as their favorite snacks, such as vadas, samosas and pakodas, will not be served as cooking fried food requires large quantities of LPG. Some fresh items too, like idli and poha, may also disappear from food stalls in the railways.
“There is a stock of LPG for about a week,” said a food stall owner, who has stalls at multiple stations on the Western and Central Railways. “Large electric stoves and induction stoves for commercial use are expensive, which makes it unviable to buy them.”
There are more than 460 food stalls on the Mumbai section of the Western Railway, of which 264 are in the Churchgate-Dahanu suburban stretch. The Central Railway has 194 food stalls, of which 152 are located on the CSMT-Karjat/Kasara/Panvel corridors on the suburban network.
Amid the looming crisis, IRCTC has sent an advisory to catering license holders on both railways, directing them to ensure uninterrupted food services to passengers. They have been asked to switch to alternate cooking modes. The letter stated that microwaves and induction devices, to compensate for any possible shortage in LPG supplies.
As a result, small electric induction stoves have appeared in some food stalls, for heating pre-prepared foods that cannot be served cold.
There are also concerns about the possibility of a reduction in catering services on long-distance trains. IRCTC sources said the situation is under control at the moment but is fluid.
Railway Board Chairman and CEO Satish Kumar has also written to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, regarding LPG required to run essential services related to train operations, for example, in crew operating rooms. The Railway Board has ordered continuous supply of 8,000 LPG cylinders at 340 stations across various railway divisions of the Indian Railways.
