Passengers travelling in premium trains may have to shell out little more. The Indian

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Railways catering and tourism corporation (IRCTC) proposes to hike the food prices served in the Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains by 30-40 per cent.

“We want to link it to the current whole sale price index. We have been thinking about it for quite some time. The food prices have not been changed for almost ten years and now it’s high time to hike it,” said a senior IRCTC official, who did not want to

be named.

The railways have formed a special committee to review the food prices and revise them. The proposed revision in prices is likely to take place after the new government is in place.

The food prices constitute a meagre part of the total ticket cost. For instance, in Rs 1,800 Rajdhani ticket, only Rs 160 is charged for dinner, snacks and breakfast. According to Rakesh Tandon, managing director of IRCTC, “The cost of packaging and supplying is over 70 per cent of the amount that is being charged from the passengers for food. This leaves us with nothing. We need to revise the charges for better quality food.”

In March, the railways had removed items such as pre-cut salad, yoghurt, and soup from the menu. It has also short-listed 80 brands that will be served on the trains. “The changes were made on a six-month experiment basis. We’ll take a review whether we want to continue with the changes or not,” said Tandon.

The move will increase the train ticket prices that may give an edge to the low cost carriers including SpiceJet, IndiGo and

GoAir that have been struggling hard to woo railway passengers.

However, railway ministry officials feel that it wouldn’t make any difference as the hike will be marginal compared to the airfare that have been going up for quite a while. A Delhi-Mumbai air ticket costs between Rs 2,500-Rs 4,000 depending on the time of the booking, whereas a Rajdhani ticket costs about Rs 1,800. For sectors such as Delhi-Lucknow, there would be no impact at all as there are not many options being offered by the low-cost carriers. With the ones that are available, the ticket prices start from over Rs 3,000 as compared to Rs 700 for a Shatabdi ticket.

Tandon said that the quality of food was one of the major areas of focus for the organisation this year. The company has appointed IMRB International – a south Asian market research firm – to monitor passengers’ complaints on food. The Indian Railways subsidiary will invest Rs 10 crore to modernise its base kitchens at New Delhi, Mumbai railway stations.