Odisha to get its first rail coach restaurant in Oct

Bhubaneswar: Odisha is all set to get its first railway coach restaurant in October this year.

An air-conditioned restaurant in a rail coach with all modern facilities will be thrown open to people near the Rourkela railway station before the upcoming Durga Puja in October, sources said.

Rail coach restaurants were earlier opened at Nagpur in Maharashtra and New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, sources added.

The Chakradharpur Railway Division had floated a tender in January this year to open a restaurant in a rail coach near the second entrance of Rourkela railway station in Odisha.

A Kolkata-based firm received the contract for 15 years by promising to pay Rs 2.5 crore to the authorities, said a source.

As per the contract, the railway authorities provided an old rail coach and 250 square metres of space near Rourkela station to the firm.

The private firm has refurbished the rail coach. The interior work of the rail coach restaurant will be completed by the end of this month. Altogether 48 people can dine at a time at the restaurant, sources said.

Two street food counters will come up near the rail coach restaurant, they added.