Indian Railways launches Janani Sewa, optional catering Scheme on pilot basis

Railways minister Suresh Prabhu on Wednesday launched three passenger service initiatives—a Janani Sewa for mothers, optional catering in Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains on a pilot basis and a children’s menu on trains.
•    Under Janani Sewa, hot milk, hot water and baby food—to begin with—will be available at 25 railway stations including New Delhi, Mumbai, Howrah, Chennai, Surat and Lucknow. 
•    Originally, the service was meant to have been introduced on trains.
•    The decision to introduce this facility was taken after a mother last year tweeted to the minister that due to a delayed train service she was facing a lot of problems feeding her child as she was unable to find milk on the train.
•    The Indian Railways also launched an optional catering services project. 
•    To begin with the project will be taken up on a pilot basis for 45 days and will be available only on the Secunderabad-Pune Shatabdi Express and Mumbai Central-Hazrat Nizammudin Rajdhani Express.
•    The catering charges of Rs.340 for 1 AC and Rs.295 on 2AC/3AC would be deducted from the cost of the Rajdhani ticket if a passenger opts out of the catering service. 
•    Similarly a Shatabdi ticket would be cheaper by Rs.260 and Rs.220 for executive and chair car categories, respectively.
•    To make train travel a happier experience for children, the railways has launched items like French fries, noodles, burgers and meal combos through IRCTC. 
•    These items can be ordered by the passengers through the e-catering website of IRCTC, a specified phone number, SMS, mobile app or a four digit all-India toll free number—1323.