The "McDonald's Express" could soon roll in, so could Subway and Haldiram's.Existing food vendors will have to compete with the likes of such food giants, with the railways having decided to allow private chains to serve food in all trains.The decision marks a policy shift since a move to start e-catering - which allows passengers to order food online in advance - last year by two fast-food brands on select trains with no pantry cars proved a non-starter.Sandip Dutta, spokesperson for the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) - the agency that handles catering services in trains - said talks were under way with over 50 food chains, including MNCs such as McDonald's."A list of nominated stations and food items with the rates will be displayed at the time of booking tickets online. The passenger will have the choice of selecting the brand and ordering either at the time of booking or up to two hours before reaching the station," another IRCTC official said.This means a Calcutta-Delhi passenger can place online orders while on the train until two hours before it reaches a designated station en route, for instance Patna or Varanasi.The facility will initially be launched through 45 stations including Howrah, Sealdah, Patna, Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, New Delhi, Surat, Varanasi, Chennai, Mumbai Central, Lucknow, Secunderabad and Chandigarh, rail ministry officials said."Prominent chains will provide food directly to the passengers of every train that passes through the (designated) stations, helping step up competition among the existing catering vendors," the IRCTC official said.Officials believe the new plan will succeed where the e-catering push didn't. "Under e-catering, travellers in trains without on-board pantry services can order from Domino's or KFC through phone or the Internet," said a ministry official. "But it had few takers with passengers in such trains preferring to carry their own food."Since the plan was introduced in September last year, only 80-odd passengers have used the option on average each day despite the facility being available on around 1,500 trains, said another official. By contrast, the ministry and IRCTC expect at least 10,000 orders daily once the new multi-brand scheme opens in about two months.Passengers seemed to relish the prospect and hoped the entry of big food brands would force the existing vendors to pull up their socks. "It will make a big difference to travellers if they can get quality food from chains delivered at their seats. The meals currently provided are often sub-standard but people in long-distance trains have no option," said Nida Ameen, a frequent traveller between Delhi and Secunderabad.For the vendors, the new plan seemed far from palatable. "The contractors had tried to prevent MNCs from entering railway premises (stations). They failed. Now the Narendra Modi government is leading the MNCs right into the trains," said Rahat Jain, a vendor.The Telegraph, Kolkata