New Delhi, Oct 29 (IANS): The Indian Railways Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on Thursday said it has launched "Food on Track", a station-based e-catering facility in 45 stations across the country under which passengers can order food of their choice from leading private caterers.

To be rolled out in a phased manner, major junctions and stations like New Delhi, Howrah, Mumbai Central, Chennai Central, Lucknow, Vijayawada, Ahmedabad and several others are covered under phase one of the present scheme.

The railways, in a statement, said that based on the outcome of the pilot launch, the service will be extended to other stations.

"The objective of the service is to provide a range of good quality and hygienic food for rail passengers, with the convenience of pre-ordering and delivery at train berth/seat," the statement said.

Passengers can pre-order their choicable meal either on the e-catering website or though phone or SMS with the e-catering call centre while the payment can be made online or upon delivery.

The IRCTC said the facility to book orders through a mobile phone app will be provided soon.

In this endeavour, the IRCTC has tied up with reputed service providers, vendors and food aggregators.

Expressions of Interest has been invited from companies like KFC, McDonald, Haldiram, Bikanerwala, Nirulas, Sagar Ratna, Wangs Kitchen, Sarvana Bhavan, Subway, Domino's, Pizza Hut, Kelloggs and several others besides aggregators.

Railways will conduct regular checks and inspection of stations to ensure authenticity of the orders besides inspecting quality, quantity, rates, hygiene and others.