The Ministry of Railways has decided that catering facilities for all booked coaches and trains on Full Tariff Rate (FTR) will be arranged by IRCTC. The booking party must use IRCTC for catering facilities, except when booking FTR trains with a pantry car. In such cases, the party can choose to use IRCTC or provide catering facilities through the pantry car, following existing instructions. Parties booking FTR trains with pantry coaches will be provided with flameless cooking facilities. If flameless pantry cars are not available, Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) rakes will be supplied. If flameless pantry is not available, no pantry car will be provided, and catering services must be through IRCTC.

The booking module will include functionality to upload passenger manifest 24 hours before departure. No VPU/VPH will be allotted for third-party FTR trains. Security and railway staff must check for inflammables at the originating station. The booking party is responsible for ensuring passengers follow the tour program and have platform facilities. En-route halts must have platforms/sidings for boarding, deboarding, and stabling the coach. Regular drives by IRCTC/Railway officials to check compliance with guidelines should be conducted. These instructions apply to all future bookings, including those yet to commence.

IRCTC, a Mini Ratna public sector enterprise under the administrative control of Ministry of Railways, is the sole entity authorized by Indian Railways (IR) to provie catering services to railways, online railway tickets and packaged drinking water at railway stations and trains in India. The Government of India held 62.40% stake in the company, as on 30 June 2023.

IRCTC's net profit fell 5.4% to Rs 232.22 crore in Q1 FY24 as compared with Rs 245.52 crore in Q1 FY23. Revenue from operations increased 17.5% year on year (YoY) to Rs 1,001.79 crore in the quarter ended 30 June 2023.

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