Passengers to get free meal on Sunday in case of train delay

NEW DELHI: Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday said the Indian Railways will provide free meals to passengers on board if trains get delayed on a Sunday by five-six hours due to planned maintenance works on tracks.

“The Railways will provide free meals and refreshments to the passengers travelling on reserved tickets if the train gets delayed on Sunday due to the planned maintenance work of its assets,” Goyal told the media here.

The food and refreshments would be provided by Indian Rail Catering and Tourism Corp (IRCTC). “We are also considering free meals to passengers travelling on unreserved tickets.”

The Minister said the railways will come up with a new timetable on August 15 that will inform passengers about the likely delay in schedule of trains due to planned maintenance work on the tracks.

“In the last seven to eight days, I had a detailed review meeting with the General Managers of seven zonal railways. And we have decided to carry out the maintenance of the railway assets in a planned manner,” he said.

“Efforts to improve punctuality will be taken and there will not be any compromise on safety. Works related to safety will be given the highest priority,” he added.

Goyal said maintenance of tracks will be taken up for about two hours on weekdays and for about six hours on Sundays when the volume of traffic is lower. Safety-related works will be done during planned stoppage of trains.