Katra-Srinagar Vande Bharat Express to offer Kashmiri vegetarian cuisine. Check menu

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Katra-Srinagar Vande Bharat train on June 6, connecting Srinagar with the country's rail network.

In good news for the passengers travelling on the newly inaugurated Katra-Srinagar Vande Bharat, the IRCTC has decided to serve Kashmiri vegetarian cuisine to passengers from the second week of July.

"We are working out a plan to serve local cuisine on the Katra-Srinagar Vande Bharat train and it is expected to start from the second week of July,” Anand Kumar Jha, Additional General Manager, IRCTC, told PTI.

"Popular local cuisine, such as ambal kaddu, babru, Jammu paratha in breakfast and paneer chaman, Kashmiri dum aloo and Jammu rajma in lunch, will be served to those who wish to try the flavour of local food during their Katra-Srinagar train ride,” an Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) official said.

We spoke to all top food outlets and hotels, such as Nathu’s, Holiday Inn, JW Marriott and ITC among others, and selected the most popular local dishes,” the official said.”Ambal kaddu, also known as kaddu ka ambal, is a popular Dogra cuisine prepared from pumpkin. It is sweet and sour and is often cooked at wedding functions. Another breakfast item, babru, is like a stuffed puri, a favourite in the hilly areas,” he added.The official said lunch items, such as paneer chaman and Kashmiri dum aloo, are served in other parts of the country as well.

However, these will be prepared keeping in mind the local spices and flavours to let the travellers get a feel of the city they are visiting.

According to the IRCTC, other breakfast and lunch items, such as upma, poha, vegetarian cutlet etc., will also be available as an option for those passengers who do not wish to try local food.The IRCTC said it has already initiated the process to provide an option for local food on premier trains, such as Vande Bharat and Rajdhani Express.”We have recently introduced south Indian food, such as steamed matta rice, banana kalan etc., on the Thiruvananthapuram Rajdhani.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Katra-Srinagar Vande Bharat train on June 6, connecting Srinagar with the country’s rail network.The Indian Railways started its commercial operations from the next day and the IRCTC treated passengers with its usual menu.”A decision has been taken to promote local cuisine on premier trains and we have worked out a special plan for the Katra-Srinagar Vande Bharat.

A similar exercise has been initiated on the Nagpur-Secunderabad Vande Bharat train, where while starting from Nagpur, a popular dish of the city will be offered to the passengers and while returning from Secunderabad, they can relish Hyderabadi cuisine,” the official said.

The two Vande Bharat Express trains from Katra Railway Station, directly connecting the Jammu division with Kashmir, were flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 6.

The new Vande Bharat Express train will take just about three hours to travel between Katra and Srinagar, reducing the existing travel time by two to three hours.

These trains have been specially designed to operate in the cold climatic conditions of the Kashmir Valley. The train will run through the Anji Khad Bridge, which is India's first cable-stayed railway bridge, and the Chenab Bridge, which is the highest railway arch bridge in the world.

The USBRL project is 272 kilometres long, constructed worth around Rs 43,780 crore, includes 36 tunnels (spanning 119 km) and 943 bridges. The project establishes all-weather, seamless rail connectivity between the Kashmir Valley and the rest of the country, aiming to transform regional mobility and drive socio-economic integration.