Khanagadi – Making Train Travel a Gastronomic Experience

Train journeys are something that I always look forward to. Not just comfort, but the ease of ticketing, station proximity, timings and of course,relatively cheaper cost makes train journeys always preferable, especially when compared to airlines or even some buses that seem to charge quite a bomb these days

Though both trains and stations are getting modernized to maximize passenger comfort, the one thing that haven’t focussed much is on food. In almost all cities, including the metros, the food inside train and at stations are pretty much bad, if not stale. They are invariably expensive, lack of options available and you are basically forced to eat whatever’s given.

There has been several attempts in making this a better process and improvise standards , but actual execution never took off. Even in a Shatabdi, where the ticket price is inclusive of the food, the food quality is dismal to say the least. Several times, I have left my food untouched thanks to a bad taste.

Online food app aggregators have only enabled deliveries from various restaurants to where you stay/work. You can’t expect the same delivery to the station even if the hotel is pretty closeby, unless you manually go and pick it up which is not possible. I have always shuddered at the thought of the lousy food available in platforms or junk foods that I always strive to avoid

So I happened to discover a new service that actually delivers delicious foods right to our seat(in the train) at the designated time in any of the listed stations enroute your journey. Its called Khanagadi and its available easily through Android and iOS apps.

In this Food in Train app service, all you have to do is simply login, select the station/city and date/time and choose the kind of food you need from the avaialble options. Do mention the train no/seat no for a on-seat delivery. The best part about this service  is that they automatically track train timings,consider train delays and ensure your food is delivered before its due for departure. So you don’t have the hassle of infomring them at every step to keep them updated about your location and arrival time.

Suppose you are on your way from Chennai to New Delhi in Tamilnadu Express. Being a 30 hour journey it can be extremely difficult to manage without proper hygienic and good food. Prepacked home food may not last that long and could become stale. So how about scheduling food deliveries in the designated times (and corresponding stations the train stops)?

Probably starting with Dinner in Chennai Central , Breakfast at Warrangal Station (next day at 7AM), lunch at Nagpur (at 2PM) and another delicious North Indian meal at Bhopal(at 8PM), all scheduled deliveries through

If this app service takes off ( though haven’t personally tried it yet) it could be a revolutionary step in addressing the needs of several thousand passengers, who can have a hand at the delicious local cuisine where the train is halting without even having to get down.

On a critical note, I tried scheduling for an upcoming journey from Chennai, but currently there’s very few choices available.  Additionally for a few other cities, the rates are slightly on the higher side. I’d naturally assume they are expanding their options on a much larger scale and definitely hoping to order from them soon.

Do  check out my post on Food Industry IOT 

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