Recycling is the call of the hour and it has been duly heard by the Indian Railways. In an initiative to serve dual purposes namely – reuse and fine dining – the Railway Department is coming up with rail restaurants. One such restaurant inside a refurbished coach is coming shortly in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.
The restaurant inside an old and unused coach will soon be opened near platform number 6 of Jabalpur railway station.
The railways will realise the licence fee from the party that takes the coach on contract for refurbishing under the non-fare revenue (NFR) policy of the Indian Railways, according to Rajesh Dutt Bajpai, executive director (I&P) of Indian Railways.
“Once the restaurant opens, a revenue of ₹13 lakh will be earned annually under non-fare revenue,” West Central Railway tweeted on its handle.
पमरे द्वारा यात्री सुविधाओं मे बढ़ोत्तरी के अंतर्गत, जबलपुर रेलवे स्टेशन पर पुराने अनुपयोगी रेल कोच को कोच रेस्टॉरेंट में परिवर्तित करने का कार्य अंतिम चरण में है। इस कोच रेस्टॉरेंट की शुरुआत होने के पश्चात गैर किराया राजस्व के तहत प्रतिवर्ष 13 लाख रुपए का राजस्व अर्जित होगा। pic.twitter.com/NEq6Rb0RlE
— West Central Railway (@wc_railway) January 28, 2022
More Railways Coaches To Be Converted
Besides this, six other stations under West Central Railway (WCR), will also have these concept restaurants.
The idea was first implemented by Eastern Railways in 2020 when it had set up a restaurant in an old railway coach at Asansol station in West Bengal.
NFR policy ensures that the Railways is adding bulk to their income through various sources other than freight and passenger receipts. Under this initiative, old train coaches are planned to be refurbished and transformed into rail coach restaurants. However, even after conversion into rail coach restaurants, these train coaches will continue to remain Indian Railways property.