Railway catering operations were brought back under control on Friday after the government agreed that railway kitchens would be treated as essential services. The decision was taken after an LPG cylinder shortage had disrupted the preparation of fresh food for passengers on some trains, as a result of which ready-to-eat meal packets had to be served in place of cooked meals. By granting essential status to these operations, priority in LPG allocation was ensured, and catering services were allowed to resume in a more stable manner.
It was stated by railway authorities that 19-kg commercial LPG cylinders had again been supplied to cluster kitchens and base kitchens after intervention at the government level. Through this restoration, fresh food preparation was restarted for passengers travelling on long-distance services. It was further said that the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas had instructed state-level nodal agencies to prioritise LPG distribution to railway kitchens so that meal services on trains would not be interrupted further. This action was seen as necessary because a very large number of meals are prepared through these units every single day.
A significant operational burden was said to be carried by cluster kitchens and base kitchens on Central and Western Railways, where nearly 450,000 meals are prepared daily for passengers on long-distance routes. In Mumbai alone, seven such kitchens located at Sewri, Kurla, Chembur, Mumbai Central, Borivali and Powai were reported to be preparing around 4,500 meals each every day. It was also shared by officials that around 1,000 LPG cylinders are required to support all cluster kitchens, base kitchens and related catering arrangements. Once the kitchens were recognised as essential operations, supply was restored and cooking activity was resumed.
At present, it was explained that nearly 40 per cent of the total catering requirement is being met through freshly cooked meals, while another 40 per cent is being handled through packaged ready-to-eat food. The remaining 20 per cent is being covered by beverages. This temporary distribution model was adopted so that passenger services would not be entirely affected while full-scale fresh cooking operations were being gradually restored. It was also conveyed that catering licensees had been instructed to immediately inform IRCTC if LPG-based cooking was stopped at any unit, so that substitute arrangements could be activated without delay.
The disruption was first noticed on Wednesday when IRCTC’s Sewri cluster kitchen was affected by an LPG shortage. Since food from these kitchens is supplied to premium trains such as Vande Bharat Express, Rajdhani Express, Duronto Express, Shatabdi Express and Tejas Express, the problem was quickly recognised as serious. Across the country, nearly 1.7 million meals are served every day by IRCTC through pantry cars, base kitchens and onboard catering units, and around 20 per cent of that demand is said to arise from the western zone. In order to strengthen coordination, contact details of state nodal agencies were exchanged with IRCTC so that communication with LPG distributors and railway catering teams could be improved.
The wider context of the disruption was also linked to rising geopolitical tensions in West Asia. It was indicated that threats to energy supply chains and disturbances around the Strait of Hormuz had contributed to rising crude oil and LPG prices, and the impact had been felt not only in households but also in commercial operations such as railway catering. For the railway network, uninterrupted fuel supply was shown to be critical because large-scale meal production depends on consistent kitchen operations. With the restoration of supply now having been ensured, catering normalcy was being gradually re-established and fresh meal services were being protected from further immediate disruption.