Gone are the days when passengers in Indian trains were reliant solely on the pantry food. It was inevitable, as passengers didn’t like the quality and the unhygienic practices of the pantries. Moreover, the pantry doesn’t offer a wide range of menus, which makes it boring, too.
Nevertheless, the better days have arrived, and now passengers have the option to book delicious and fresh meals through online food delivery platforms. For instance, Swiggy, in partnership with IRCTC, has made it possible to offer consumers fresh meals on trains. The booking can be done through the Swiggy website seamlessly. Here, passengers don’t have to walk several coaches to buy it, like in the case of the old IRCTC food order pantry system. Through the delivery platform, you can book your dinner from your seat using your smartphone.
Well, hygiene is not the only reason why passengers are preferring this mode of dining on trains these days. A paradigm shift is happening where most passengers these days opt for online food deliveries rather than pantry food. So there must be numerous reasons behind it, rather than one. In this blog, we will discuss all those reasons that will help you understand why you should also switch to online food booking on your train rather than the pantry.
Key Reasons Why You Should Book Dinner in Train Online
- Wide Range of Menu Offering Tasty Flavours – If you recall, the pantry menu is quite limited. They have this old menu setup where you only get two or three dishes (veg/non-veg) specific or dinner and/or lunch. Moreover, those are specific to Indian dishes only.
With online food ordering in train, there are no limitations. This is because it has brought the entire range of menus from restaurants that have collaborated with the delivery platform, as well as the station stoppages. Voila! This means you get to order Continental, Japanese, Moroccan, etc along with Indian dishes, according to your preference. This brings to the next reason-
- Dietary preferences and Customization- Apart from the flavours, there might be situations where you have your dietary preferences in place. For instance- you want a complete Jain thaali where there won’t be any sort of non-veg item whatsoever. It can be more specific, like a kid’s meal or a diabetic-friendly option. In these scenarios, the online food delivery platform is your only go-to option. In that, you can choose the spices, add-ons, and refrain from allergens that instigate your or your family’s gut health.
- Superior Food Quality and Hygiene- As we discussed earlier, this is another significant reason why passengers prefer ordering food online. Over the years, the pantry food in trains has a long history of delivering unhygienic items which were either stale or served with the worst cases.
Now with the online food delivery in place, you get fresh and hot dinners. This is because the restaurants that collaborate with the delivery platforms abide by strict FSSAI licensing terms. In other words, the items to be delivered to you by the delivery partner must be packaged in controlled conditions and maintained at a consistent temperature, using top-notch ingredients and adhering to high standards.
- Seamless Ordering through Website/Apps- When pantries used to be the sole medium of ordering food, sometimes passengers had to remind the team or order it by going to the pantry coach in person.
In case of ordering food online, you just have to visit the website or app of the delivery partner and order the dishes as per your preference. Since this can be done via your smartphone, the job doesn’t require you to go anywhere, as it can be done from your seat.
The method is simple- Just visit the website, enter your train details like PNR, and it will show you all available restaurants based on the stations where your train will halt. Move the dishes to your cart, and that’s it. The last step is to complete the payment, which can be done via multiple payment options.
- Timely Delivery at Your Seat- If you are thinking that your food will be delivered late because of the wide range of dishes that you’ve ordered, then you are wrong. The whole delivery strategy has been made so seamless that your order won’t take much time to reach your seat. Once the chosen station arrives, your order will be delivered to you within a few moments.
Moreover, you have the option to track your delivery in real-time, and high chance that your delivery platform would notify you from time to time.
- Affordability and Enticing Offers- Yes, you heard it right, and it’s a myth that it is expensive. Online food delivery on a train is not expensive and is very budget-friendly. The price segment matches the dishes that you order online at home. So, if you have been believing this myth for quite some time, then it’s time to break it.
Moreover, there is a high chance that you might get offers and great deals on specific dishes from select restaurants. If lucky, you can get significant discounts or cashbacks as well.
- Hassle-Free and Contactless Delivery Experience- With the advent of the COVID-19 virus, which is still present in our ecosystem, passengers prefer no-contact deliveries. But this is not being practiced in the pantry-based food delivery systems. While in the case of online food deliveries, this is not an issue. In the latter case, you just have to book your order and relax.
No-contact delivery by online platforms is made possible with online payment modes. Subsequently, the respective delivery agent drops your food at a safe distance on your seat, which you can just pick up accordingly. This makes the whole thing seamless to a wide range of passenger demographics, starting from young solo travellers to elderly persons or families.
Conclusion
Now that you have gone through the key reasons why passengers are preferring to order food online on trains, it’s time that you try it too.
To make your first order delicious, here’s a tip for you- try the Swiggy website and order your dinner in just a few clicks. It’s a passenger’s favourite as it offers food from top brands across 100+ stations. Moreover, it has some commendable features which make it more user-friendly like-
- Easy cancellation until your meal preparation starts
- Timely delivery with live tracking
- Order from top brands that are FSSAI-approved restaurants
- Sometimes offers and discount coupons are applicable too
- Multiple payment options- UPI, Netbanking, Credit/Debit Cards and even COD
So, without further ado, make your train journey more memorable with Swiggy today. Order now for a perfect train dinner you wished you had in your last train journey.