IRCTC to set up 20 'Rail Ratna' budget hotels in South India

Kochi, Apr 27 (UNI) The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp. will set up 20 'Rail Ratna' brand budget hotels in the southern states and major hoteliers have already been awarded sites at several places for the venture, IRCTC Southern Region Manager K P Damodaran said today.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Damodaran said sites had already been awarded for the hotels at Ooty, Kanniyakumari, Madurai and Rameshwaram.

Land would be handed over at Chennai Central, Trivandrum Central, Ernakulam, Kottayam, Calicut, Coimbatore and Mangalore for more hotles, he said.

Mr Damodaran said that since taking over the catering in Southern Railway in November, 2005, the IRCTC had set up 13 modern food plazas at major stations including Trivandrum, Ernakulam, Chennai and Bangalore.

Ten more food courts were being planned, including at Kollam, Kottayam, Kozhikode, Mangalore, Erode and Tirunelvelli.

To provide hygienic and wholesome food to railway passengers and visitors to the stations, major base kitchens would be set up at Trivandrum, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Erode, Madurai and Chennai, he said.

Denying reports that south Indian dishes were being taken off, he said the railway menu was being streamlined and popular south Indian dishes would be a part of it.

Seventy multipurpose catering stalls had been tendered in Palakkad and Trivandrum in the Ernakulam region. The railways were also providing 'Janata Meals' at Rs ten at several stations in the country.

Stating that the IRCTC had recently been told to streamline the supply of bedrolls in AC coaches, Mr Damodaran said that it was in the process of setting up laundrettes at Trivandrum, Ernakulam, Coimbatore, Mangalore, Chennai and Bangalore to provide clean and fresh bed linen.

The corporation was also offering attractive tour packages to hill stations like Ooty, Kodaikanal and Munnar from Chennai and Bangalore, he said.

UNI