Meal price hike irks passengers

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 17

Passengers, who frequently travell through trains, are upset at the proposed increase in meal rates.

As per the railway announcement, the meal prices will be increased for Shatabdi, Rajdhani and Duronto trains.

A jewellery trader, Anil Handa, said the flexi fare scheme had already made the tickets costly for the prime trains but there was no marked improvement in travel quality, especially food.

Advance booking of ticket in Shatabdi here means that one can procure a seat for Rs 850 and it can go upto Rs 1,400 at the last moment. On the other side, the quality of meal is mediocre and needs to be upgraded, he said.

Another passenger, Prabhjot Singh, says he frequently travels to Delhi to buy readymade garments and finds the food hardly satisfactory. “In breakfast, it serves tea, tetra juice pack, a water bottle, two bread slices with two potato cutlet and two eggs omelette for non-vegetarians. In dinner, it serves cheese, daal, rice and two chapattis. For non-vegetarians, cheese is replaced with chicken. The food quality needs improvement,” he said.

There are three Shatabdi trains between Amritsar and Delhi daily. Duronto was launched between Amritsar and Chandigarh but later it was re-christened as Superfast Express.