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Facing criticism from passengers, the Railway Ministry has dropped the ₹ 50 service charge on morning tea that it previously levied in cases of travellers not pre-booking it in premium trains.
The Indian Railways has issued revised charges for onboard charges for catering services in specified trains where customers did not book the food in advance. and instead bought it onboard.
While there will be no extra charge for morning tea for passengers who buy it onboard, other meals, including breakfast, lunch and dinner and evening tea with snacks will cost Rs ₹50 more if they have not been pre-booked.
The charges will be applicable for trains, including Shatabdi, Duronto, Rajdhani, Tejas and Vande Bharat trains.
For instance, in Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains, passengers in AC first class and executive class will have to shell out ₹35 for morning tea whether they book it on board or have prepaid it. However, prepaid breakfast would be for ₹140 while those buying it onboard will have to pay ₹190.
Similarly, prepaid lunch and dinner would cost ₹245 for passengers while onboard charges would be ₹295 for the meal. Evening tea with snacks would be ₹140 if prepaid and ₹190 if the customer buys it onboard.
Passengers travelling in other classes would also have to pay a ₹50 service charge for these meals, barring the morning tea.
The Railways Ministry has sent the circular to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation.
“Electronic invoice will be generated clearly reflecting the tax details and seat number/PNR number/Mobile number. Prior information regarding menu and onboard charges to such passengers shall be provided,” the circular has said.
The meals would be inclusive of goods and services tax.
The move comes after a passenger complained that he had to pay ₹50 extra as service charge for a cup of tea costing ₹20. This was part of IRCTC’s 2018 earlier circular of 2018 where it had said a service charge of ₹50 would be levied on an Express train if the passenger had not booked it during his ticket reservation. Following the passenger’s tweet, IRCTC had faced a lot of criticism.
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