The food service of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) called Zoop has partnered with Reliance-owned Haptik to provide online food delivery services on trains via the messaging platform WhatsApp. With this latest partnership, passengers can order food via a chatbot on WhatsApp without downloading any app.
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Interestingly, the food would be delivered to passengers on their seats while traveling. Passengers would need to enter their PNR number to successfully place the order. Moreover, this service offered by IRCTC is real-time tracking.
According to a video shared by Haptik on YouTube, IRCTC’s Zoop is partnering with Haptik to offer a WhatsApp-based food delivery service on trains. The platform would allow the passengers to book food of their choice from partner restaurants through WhatsApp while they are on a train.
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Additionally, passengers can connect to a WhatsApp chatbot named “Ziva” through the number +91 7042062070 and would need to enter their PNR number to place food orders. Further, the chatbot would verify the travel details and allow the passengers to select the station where they want the food to be delivered. These services allow passengers to pay in cash and online.
The chatbot also allows the passengers to track the order in real-time and leave feedback. After reaching the selected station, food will be delivered to the passengers on their seats and they do not need to step out of the train.
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According to PTI, this new service is currently available at more than 100 A1, A, and B category railway stations including Baroda, Vijayawada, Kanpur, Tundla Junction and more.
Meanwhile, it was also recently reported that the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation has rolled back a tender which was published earlier to hire a consultant for monetising the passenger data. This update was provided by a senior official from IRCTC to the Congress MP Shashi Tharoor led parliamentary panel on Aug 26, 2022. The railway ticketing app announced the tender earlier this month and it has garnered controversy over data privacy concerns regarding the monetisation of passenger and customer data. Additionally, IRCTC confirmed that it is no longer pursuing the tender.
