Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has established an AI-enabled monitoring system at its Delhi headquarters to address food hygiene issues in train catering. According to reports from Business Standard, the AI setup is part of the newly established War Room and is aimed at fostering predictive interventions. The facility features multiple live feeds of all kitchens with a 24/7 monitoring system, where teams of four or more work in shifts through a single dashboard. As per Chairman and Managing Director Sanjay Kumar Jain, the system is designed to foster predictive interventions across the railway network.
The AI-enabled system detects nine types of errors in kitchens that are primarily responsible for unhygienic food in trains. As reported by Business Standard, these include hairnet compliance, transparent gloves detection, mopping, wiping, rodent, flies, cockroach, and headgear. The system detects anomalies like the absence of mandatory chef gear/uniforms and raises automated tickets for immediate contractor correction. Travellers continue to face hygiene issues despite premiumisation efforts through station modernisation and introduction of Vande Bharat trains.
The war room creates a unified platform that enables faster response, greater accountability, and proactive prevention of service failures across the railway network. According to company executives, the facility will enable 24/7 real-time monitoring of passenger complaints and incidents, establishing a single source for operational issues. All complaint and incident signals converge into a centralised dashboard with key data sources including RailMadad complaints, onboard staff reports, social media platforms, CCTV-based alerts, GPS and train telemetry systems, call center escalations, and emergency helplines. The platform ensures clear ownership and time-bound resolution of complaints, with the system designed to shift from complaint redressal to complaint prevention through data-driven insights.
The unified digital dashboard will display train-wise complaint heat maps, incident severity indicators, service level agreement countdown timers, repeat complaint alerts, and performance rankings of zones and divisions. As reported by Business Standard, this system will enable shifting from complaint redressal to complaint prevention through data-driven insights. The platform ensures clear ownership and time-bound resolution of complaints, with Chairman and Managing Director Sanjay Kumar Jain emphasizing the facility's role in fostering predictive interventions across the railway network.
