Foodpanda Partners with IRCTC to Offer Meals to Passengers

Foodpanda today said it has partnered with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to allow passengers order food from restaurants during their train journeys. IRCTC is a subsidiary of the Indian Railways that handles catering, tourism and online ticketing operations.A pilot of the proposed association will be launched at the New Delhi Railway station, Foodpanda said in a statement, without disclosing the timeline. After Delhi, the service will be extended to more cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Chennai in due course of time, it added.

Foodpanda offers menus from over 12,000 restaurants across more than 200 cities. Passengers can pre-order their meals from the options available for delivery at the opted station. However, they will have to order meals at least 2 hours in advance of the train arrival at the selected station. Foodpanda will align the delivery of food with the train arrival time at the selected station, fulfilling the transaction through its own delivery arm.

Consumers will have the option of prepaid or cash on delivery. "Our association with IRCTC will be an offering which addresses a huge consumer need prevailing for years. For long, consumers had limited food options to choose from while travelling with Indian railways but the newly launched e-catering service by IRCTC (approved by Ministry of Railways) is set to change the way Indians eat while travelling," Foodpanda CEO Saurabh Kochhar said.

Robin Kalita, Director (Catering Services) at IRCTC said the aim is to offer wider choices to consumers. "We are happy that we will be able to offer wider food choices to our consumers with this association, and once our pilot project is successful, we will extend the service to more locations," he added.