After facing a backlash on taking an exorbitant service charge on tea being served in one of the premium trains, the Indian Railways has finally removed the on-board service charges on all meals and beverages that are not pre-ordered on premium trains. And the prices of tea and coffee will be the same for all passengers who have pre-booked it or ordered those on the train, and will see no increase in the rates.

The directives have come against the backdrop of a tweet by The Pioneer journalist Deepak Kumar Jha, on June 30. The tweet, which had gone viral, cited the resentment within passengers who had to pay `50 service charge for a `20 cup of tea on-board the express trains making the price of a cup of tea to `70.  Under the previous norm of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), if the person has not booked their meals along with their train ticket, they had to pay an additional `50 while ordering food during the journey, even if it is just a `20 cup of tea or coffee.

Now, a passenger, who has not pre-booked his meals on board premium trains like Rajdhani, Duronto or Shatabdi, will pay `20 for tea (similar to the amount paid by those who pre-booked their meals). Earlier, the cost of such non-pre-booked tea was `70, including the service charge.

Interestingly, one finds in the latest July 15 order of IRCTC that while on one hand the service charge of `50 has been done away with, the prices of snacks, lunch and dinner have been increased by an identical Rs 50.

Previously, the rates for breakfast, lunch and evening snacks were `105, `185 and Rs 90, respectively while an additional service charge of `50 used to be levied with each meal. However, though the passengers will now not pay the service charge, still they will have to pay `155, `235, and `140 for these meals.  "The removal of the service charge will only reflect in the prices of tea and coffee. In this, the passenger who has not pre-booked will pay the same amount as a passenger who has booked it.

However, for all other meals the service charge amount has been added to the cost of meals for non-booked facilities," a senior railway officer of catering department said.

For Vande Bharat trains, passengers who haven't booked the on-board services have to shell out the same amount for breakfast/lunch or dinner/evening snacks as they did when they were charged service charges, with the increase showing in the cost of the food instead of the charges.

Keeping the resentment in mind, the Centre last week reiterated that no hotels or restaurants can add service charges automatically or by default in the food bill which will also include the service charge for catering in Indian Railways premises including trains.