Price of tea, coffee served on trains hiked from Rs 7 to Rs 10

New Delhi: Indian Railways have decided to hike the prices of tea and coffee in trains. The hike in prices of these hot beverages will be implemented with immediate effect, Railways issuing a circular to all the zones said.

As per the revised rates, 150 ml cup of tea with tea bag which was earlier priced at Rs 7 has now been revised to Rs 10. Similarly, a 150 ml coffee using instant powder mix has also been tagged at Rs 10.

The Railways circular said that ready-made standard tea will be continued to be sold at Rs 5 per cup.

The revision in prices are inclusive of GST. Railway in its circular wrote, "Since the tariff of standard food items fixed and notified earlier are inclusive of applicable taxes as per prevailing Central/State Government instructions from time to time i.e, service tax on outdoor catering/GST since introduction, the revised tariff of tea/coffee is also inclusive of GST as per the extant instructions. Therefore licensee/service providers will not collect any amount other than the fixed tariff.

In June this year Railways launched 'Menu on Rail' that will display menu to passengers travelling in Mail/Express, including Humsafar Train, Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto, Gatiman Express and Tejas Express.

Passengers can now check the maximum retail price (MRP) of food items on IRCTC's newly-launched "Menu on Rail" application and be sure that they are not taken for a ride. The food items are covered in four categories namely, beverages, breakfast, meals and a-la-carte.The rates (inclusive of taxes) for standard food items are given for trains as well as stations (excluding food plazas and fast food units), it said.

A-la-carte includes a list of 96 items under the categories of breakfast, light meals, combo meals, non-vegetarian, Jain food, sweets, diabetic foods etc.