The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation has introduced its E-Pantry service on 25 Mail and Express trains, marking a new experiment in digital catering for non-premium rail services. The initiative allows passengers to pre-book meals online and have them delivered directly to their seats during the journey. While digital food delivery is common in urban India, bringing that predictability to long-distance trains represents a significant shift. However, this rollout is still a pilot project. The larger question now is whether it can expand nationwide and permanently alter the way Indians experience train travel.
E-Pantry is integrated into the IRCTC ticketing ecosystem. Passengers with confirmed or RAC tickets on selected trains can pre-order standard meals and packaged drinking water either at the time of booking or later through the booked ticket history section. Payments are made digitally. Once an order is placed, a Meal Verification Code is sent via SMS or email. This code must be shown to pantry staff onboard before the meal is handed over. The system also provides for refunds in case the order is not delivered, and digital dashboards help monitor delivery accountability. In essence, the service attempts to introduce structure and traceability into a space long marked by uncertainty.
The choice of the initial 25 trains appears strategic. IRCTC first tested the concept on the Vivek Express, one of the longest train routes in India. Following early feedback, the service was extended to select long-distance Mail and Express trains that operate across major corridors. These are typically routes where passengers spend many hours, sometimes more than a full day, without guaranteed access to organised catering. By targeting long-haul journeys, IRCTC has focused on routes where the absence of predictable food options has traditionally been most felt.
For decades, passengers travelling on non-catered trains relied heavily on station vendors or informal pantry arrangements. Quality, hygiene and pricing often varied widely. Short halts at intermediate stations meant travellers had limited time to purchase meals, leading to rushed decisions and inconsistent service. The E-Pantry model addresses this gap by shifting meal decisions to the booking stage itself. Instead of searching for food mid-journey, passengers can plan in advance. This transition from reactive buying to proactive ordering is the core transformation the pilot is testing.
The pilot phase is also a data-gathering exercise. IRCTC will closely monitor how many passengers opt for pre-booking, how smoothly deliveries occur, and how frequently refund claims are raised. Operational feasibility will be as important as passenger demand. Coordinating pantry staff, onboard logistics and digital tracking across multiple railway zones requires seamless backend support. If delivery accuracy and customer satisfaction remain high, expansion becomes more likely.
A nationwide rollout would involve scaling both technology and logistics. Backend systems must handle higher order volumes. Pantry operations would need standardisation across regions. Integration with IRCTC’s existing e-catering service, which already allows passengers to order meals from partner restaurants at designated stations, could also become part of the strategy. E-Pantry differs in that it is designed around onboard pantry operations rather than station-based restaurant deliveries. How these two systems complement or overlap each other will influence future expansion decisions.
Passengers on routes not currently covered by the pilot are already watching closely. Many hope similar pre-booking options will extend to additional long-distance trains, especially those without built-in catering. Others seek greater clarity and flexibility in meal selection, including transparent pricing and easy opt-out choices. As digital adoption grows across India’s transport ecosystem, travellers increasingly expect control and convenience as standard features rather than premium add-ons.
If successfully expanded, E-Pantry could reshape the perception of railway catering. Standardised digital ordering may reduce dependence on informal vendors and bring greater transparency to pricing and delivery. It could also reduce mid-journey stress, particularly for families, elderly passengers and long-distance travellers who prefer assured meals. More broadly, it aligns Indian Railways with the government’s wider push towards digitisation and service accountability.
For now, E-Pantry remains an experiment limited to 25 trains. Yet its implications extend far beyond this initial rollout. If passenger response is strong and operational challenges are managed effectively, the service could gradually expand across hundreds of trains in the coming years. What began as a controlled pilot may evolve into a standard feature of Indian train travel, integrating meal planning into the very act of booking a journey. Whether it becomes a nationwide norm will depend not only on technology but on how convincingly it solves one of the most common frustrations of rail travel: the uncertainty of food on the move.
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