AI to fuel IRCTC to live-stream base kitchen cooking preparations

While train travel brings in the best memories, one is never sure of the quality of food. To change this, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will now allow passengers to live stream kitchens to see how food served on trains is made. 

According to a statement released by the national transporter, Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal had suggested the idea in a review meeting. Also, the move has been made to increase transparency and ensure quality. 

This isn’t the first time the IRCTC is looking closely at tech and deep tech. In May this year, the IRCTC had developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) module to detect anomalies in the standard operating procedure of the Indian Railways using CCTV footage. 

The module stated that the base kitchens will be monitored across India. It also stated that it can detect an unexpected change or any event that doesn't conform to the expected pattern. It will be using Machine Learning algorithms and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to do so. 

The government press note had suggested that 16 base kitchens of IRCTC had been installed with high definition cameras connected to huge monitors for AI vision detection. The live streaming of 16 base kitchens is played all the time. 

The system detects anomalies of headgear, uniforms, rodents and mopping across kitchens and raises issues to be dealt with accordingly by IRCTC. The note further stated that the AI systems will also be used to improve catering units. The team is also working with Delhi-based Wobot for the same. 

If an issue is captured, a ticket for the same will be automatically generated and an alert is sent to all through an email, and even the IRCTC portal. The performance of base-kitchens can be monitored and can be viewed through reports given in the online platform provided.