pantry car on trains

A train I will be traveling on has a Pantry Car. Do passangers walk to the pantry car and eat or order there, or do the attendents take orders and serve you at your seat?

I will be on #2534, Pushpak Express, Mumbai-Nasik.

Also, does the Shababdi serve food on the train? I thought it did, but it was not designated as a Pantry train.

of course, I meant "Shatabdi"

All meals and snacks are served on Shatabdis, and included in the ticket price.
There's a thread somewhere about the food.

I don't know what a 'pantry car' is. I've never seen a carriage that you walk to to eat. I think what it means is that hot meals will be available if ordered. So someone might come round to take an order for veg or non-veg meals. Also breakfasts - omelette or veg cutlet for example.

This would be in addition to any unofficial hawkers / chaiwallahs on the train or on the station platforms.




Edit to add: Food at Shatabdi Express

pantry cars are kitchen cars where the food is cooked.It is not a place you can sit and eat.(years back there used to dining cars where you could sit and eat.Somebody pl upload a photograph for nostalgias sake).
Waiters will come take you order and serve.Plus a procession of official hawkers selling various items adds to variety and fun of travelling.
since you are only travelling bombay nasik your arrival at 11.50am gives you only time for breakfast.
rgds

I will be on plenty of trains, so there will be lots of oppertunities for food. Should be fun!

Never go and look in a pantry car, you'd never eat train food again, however, I'm sure the same could be said of many great restaurants.

Yup!!

For dining cars of the olden days, look at this photo from IRFCA galleries.

There's quite a few foreign tourists who think India is still that way.

during my 1st trip to India, I looked a few times at the hole in the wall places to see how my food was cooked--not a pretty sight!

sam78a,

If you are referring to the kind of dining cars found on Amtrak, then the answer is no. Typically the pantry car is a kitchen, with no sitting area for customers.

There is a famous Bengali movie of the Oscar wining director Satyajit Ray...Nayak.

Most of the movie was shot on Rajdhani Express and many scenes in the dining car.

Tokhun Rajdhani Chilo na (There was no Rajdhani at that time) Not the better movies of Ray.

Oho!!! Sorry my mistake...Rajdhani Exp first started her journey on 1st March, 1969. It was from Howrah. Right???

Though Nayak is not among Ray's best, but is a delight to watch and far superior to average cinema. The film takes place in a period of twenty-four hours on a train. The best part of the film lies in its form.

Delhi to Howrah to be precised

Coming to Pantry cars, I was once traveling on train no. 5933 from Varanasi to Guwahati. As usual my ticket was W/L no. 6 a month before journey and it remained W/L no. 4 on the day of journey. The train was so over crowded that I had no chance to even board it. Since the journey was necessary, I had a talk with the manager of Pantry car who agreed to take me in up to guwahati for a journey of my life. That journey of 29 hours inside the pantry car made me realise that what crap these people offer us to eat. At the same time I came to see that how tough the lives of these waiters actually is. They are offered commission on each meal they sell. These blokes sleep at around 12-12.30 at night and are awake by 4.30-5 in the morning. Now the interesting part is that:
1)These blokes and the manager of the pantry car have separate food prepared for them.
2) Many people go to pantry car to have food. People who go to pantry car to have food are served 'better'.
3) Whoever said that you cannot find much on an Indian train is absolutely wrong. The waiters of pantry car carry a 'lot of stuff' in their possession
4) I've seen that these guys put in a lot of efforts to serve 'Hygenic' food on train BUT, its simply not possible.

So my advice is, Please carry packed food/fruits/snacks/dried fruits etc instead of having food from pantry cars until absolutely necessary.

very interesting, style! This is the India you can't get on a tour!!!

About how much can the waiters actually get per week? What kind of work week schedule do they have?