Railways' fourth packaged water facility to be launched today

Mumbai: Indian Railways' fourth state-of-the-art packaged drinking water facility, set up at Ambernath in Thane district, will get operational from Wednesday.

Railways manufactures and supplies packaged drinking water to its passengers under the brand name 'Rail Neer' through its subsidiary Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).

Railway Minister DV Sadananda Gowda is expected to inaugurate the new facility through remote control from New Delhi on Wednesday evening, IRCTC said.

Built on a 20,000 square metre plot area at an investment of Rs 23.50 crore, the new facility will churn out two lakh water bottles per day and will cater to stations such as Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai Central, Kurla, Dadar, Thane, Kalyan, Pune among others, the corporation said.

IRCTC had first set up such a plant in Delhi in 2003 and later at Danapur in Patna and Palur in Chennai.

The Railway Board had given its approval to set up the Ambernath plant in 2007, but the construction work could commence only in October 2012.