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This question often arises in the minds of lakhs of passengers traveling by Indian Railways whether food is mandatory while booking tickets in premium trains or can the ticket price be reduced by excluding it. When we book tickets in Rajdhani Express, Shatabdi Express, Duronto Express or the country’s modern semi-high-speed train Vande Bharat Express, we often feel an extra burden on the pocket after seeing the fare bill. There are many passengers who prefer to carry pure and favorite home-cooked food, or they do not like the taste and menu of food served by the Railways. At the same time, there are many travelers who are on fast during the journey or avoid eating outside fried food due to health reasons. For such passengers, Indian Railways and IRCTC have provided a very useful facility, which people often call ‘Secret Setting’ or ‘No-Food Option’ (Opt-Out of Catering). If you use this option correctly at the time of ticket booking, the catering charge is directly deducted from the total ticket fare and your confirmed ticket becomes hundreds of rupees cheaper.
As per Railway rules, this exemption of removal of catering charges is not applicable on every train, but is available only in those premium trains where catering charges are already built-in or bundled in the fare structure. Meals are not a mandatory part of the ticket fare in ordinary mail, express or superfast trains; Taking food from the pantry car or not depends on the passenger’s choice on the spot. But in trains like Vande Bharat Express, Rajdhani Express, Shatabdi Express and Duronto Express, the ticket booking system adds the meal charges by default. According to the revised circular of the Railway Board, passengers of all these premium trains have been given the legal right to opt out of the food service at the time of booking. If a passenger activates this option, the system immediately removes the full charge for breakfast, lunch, evening tea or dinner from his/her ticket, leaving no additional catering tax over and above the base fare, reservation charge, superfast surcharge and GST.
This process of getting cheaper tickets on the IRCTC portal is very transparent and straightforward, but in a hurry to book, most of the passengers ignore this checkbox or dropdown menu. When you login to IRCTC Rail Connect app or official website irctc.co.in and select your train and class (like Chair Car, Executive Class, 3AC, 2AC or 1AC), the page to fill Passenger Details opens. On this page, when you enter the passenger’s name, age and gender, just below ‘Food Choice’ Or ‘Catering Preference’ A section appears. Usually the options of ‘Veg’ (Vegetarian) and ‘Non-Veg’ (Non-Veg) are visible here, but in clear letters at the top or bottom of the same dropdown list. ‘No Food’ The option of is also available. As soon as you click on ‘No Food’, the system understands that you do not want the catering service of the Railways during the journey. After this, when you proceed to the payment gateway and see the fare breakup, the column of ‘Catering Charges’ will appear completely zero (₹0.00).
Catering charges in Vande Bharat, Shatabdi or Rajdhani trains vary depending on the total distance of travel, time of travel and class of coach. For example, if you are traveling in an AC Chair Car (CC) of Vande Bharat or Shatabdi Express and your journey includes only morning tea and breakfast, then you get a discount of around Rs 120 to 150. Whereas if the journey is during lunch or dinner time, then there is a direct saving of Rs 200 to 250 in chair car and Rs 300 to 350 in executive class (EC). If we talk about long distance trains like Rajdhani or Duronto, where the journey is 24 to 30 hours and two meals and two snacks are provided on the way, then the catering charge is reduced by Rs 350 to Rs 500 per passenger on 2AC and 3AC tickets and by Rs 500 to 700 in 1st AC. If four members of a family are traveling together and they prefer to carry home food, they can easily save a huge amount of Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 in just one round trip.
This is a very important and technical rule which every railway traveler needs to know. As per the current IRCTC rules, once your ticket is final booked with ‘No Food’ option, you cannot change it to ‘With Food’ again by visiting the online portal later. That is, the online system does not allow you to change your food choice before the chart is prepared. Therefore, while booking tickets, ensure whether you will need food on the way or not. However, if a passenger selects ‘No Food’ by mistake or in a hurry and feels hungry during the journey, the Railways does not keep him hungry. Additional meals may be requested by contacting the on-duty pantry staff within the train or the on-board catering attendant, provided additional meal packets are available in the train’s pantry car. But keep in mind that when ordering food on-board in a moving train, Railways will not only charge you the fixed price of food but will also charge an additional ‘Service Charge’ of Rs 50 per meal. Therefore, it is wise that if you are not bringing food from home, then think carefully before taking the decision.
Another big advantage of choosing the ‘No Food’ option is that you can avail the benefits of IRCTC’s ‘E-Catering’ network instead of being restricted to the traditional and limited menu of the Railways. IRCTC has partnered with renowned restaurants and brands such as Haldiram’s, Bikanerwala, Domino’s, Subway and local famous dhabas at major railway stations across the country through the ‘Food on Track’ app and 1323 helpline. When you save Rs 300-400 by choosing ‘No Food’ in the ticket, you can order hot, fresh and branded food of your choice online at your seat with the same remaining money. This food is delivered directly to your seat by the delivery boy at the time of train stoppage. In this way, not only is your ticket cheaper, but you also get complete freedom to enjoy your favorite thali, pizza or South Indian cuisine during the journey. Overall, IRCTC’s ‘No Food’ option is proving to be a great boon for budget-conscious and health-conscious passengers.