One of India’s largest e-commerce company by visitors has been busy reinventing itself ‒ and now it has decided to sell pizzas on the country’s massive railway network.
On Feb. 24, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation announced that it has partnered with Jubilant Foodworks to deliver pizzas across 12 stations in the country. Jubilant runs Domino’s Pizza and has a 70% share of India’s organised pizza market.
Stations where pizzas can be ordered are;
* Agra Cantonment
* Alwar
* Jaipur
* Ambala
* Jalandhar
* Mathura
* Muzaffarnagar
* New Delhi
* Pathankot
* Vapi
* Bharuch
* Vadodara
As of now, only passengers who are travelling in trains without pantry cars can order pizzas, but Sandip Dutta, a spokesperson for the IRCTC, told Quartz that it will be eventually extended to more trains and stations.
Passengers looking for pizzas currently have three options: They can book it online via www.ecatering.irctc.co.in, or by calling a toll free number (1800-1034-139 and 0120-2383892-99). Or, they can text “MEAL” along with their PNR number to 139. All these services are run by the IRCTC.
“Passengers have to order two hours before the train’s scheduled arrival at the station,” Dutta said. “It is just like home delivery.”
For sometime now, the IRCTC, which enjoys a near monopoly in the train ticketing business, has been attempting to revamp its services.
Last year, it launched its new and improved e-ticket booking system that is capable of handling 7,200 ticket transactions a minute, up from just 2,000 earlier. Then, in September, it began e-catering service, allowing passengers to order online from the IRCTC-run food plazas and restaurants near railway stations. And by December, the IRCTC was reportedly in talks with Cafe Coffee Day, Pizza Hut and Barista to open their outlets at railway stations.
This article was originally published on qz.com.
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On Feb. 24, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation announced that it has partnered with Jubilant Foodworks to deliver pizzas across 12 stations in the country. Jubilant runs Domino’s Pizza and has a 70% share of India’s organised pizza market.
Stations where pizzas can be ordered are;
* Agra Cantonment
* Alwar
* Jaipur
* Ambala
* Jalandhar
* Mathura
* Muzaffarnagar
* New Delhi
* Pathankot
* Vapi
* Bharuch
* Vadodara
As of now, only passengers who are travelling in trains without pantry cars can order pizzas, but Sandip Dutta, a spokesperson for the IRCTC, told Quartz that it will be eventually extended to more trains and stations.
Passengers looking for pizzas currently have three options: They can book it online via www.ecatering.irctc.co.in, or by calling a toll free number (1800-1034-139 and 0120-2383892-99). Or, they can text “MEAL” along with their PNR number to 139. All these services are run by the IRCTC.
“Passengers have to order two hours before the train’s scheduled arrival at the station,” Dutta said. “It is just like home delivery.”
For sometime now, the IRCTC, which enjoys a near monopoly in the train ticketing business, has been attempting to revamp its services.
Last year, it launched its new and improved e-ticket booking system that is capable of handling 7,200 ticket transactions a minute, up from just 2,000 earlier. Then, in September, it began e-catering service, allowing passengers to order online from the IRCTC-run food plazas and restaurants near railway stations. And by December, the IRCTC was reportedly in talks with Cafe Coffee Day, Pizza Hut and Barista to open their outlets at railway stations.
This article was originally published on qz.com.
