Now, no more overcharging of food on trains as IRCTC introduces POS machines

New Delhi, Jan 28: With increased complaints from passengers about overcharging by vendors, the IRCTC has decided to introduce billing through Point of Sale (POS) devices on-board trains.

At present 2191 POS machines have been made available in the trains with pantry cars. Plan to increase the POS is being undertaken for complete coverage, a statement from the railway ministry said.

The POS billing machines were introduced in trains in phases. In March, it was avai1able in train number 2627-28, SBC-NDLS Karnataka Express on a pilot basis. In the next phase, 100 POS machines were decided to be commissioned on 26 trains.

The complaints range from menu and tariff of meals to the catering items being sold on-board trains. As per the plan, each rake of the train shall be provided with 2 POS machines each to start with and shall be progressively increased as per the usage and response from passengers, it said.

The IRCTC is also deploying its officials on-board these trains to monitor the catering services. They are being provided with tablets which will be used for collection of passenger feedbacks, it said.

The service providers managing the on-board services are also being trained at the IRCTC central kitchen at Noida for usage of the POS machine.