IRCTC is running few Railway Lounges at some Premier Cities since last few years. Two of them happens to be at New Delhi Railway Station (Platform 1 & 16).
This is a review of lounge on Platform 1 operated by RMD Hotels & Resorts Pvt. Ltd, situated at first floor (1st PF from Paharganj & last from Ajmeri Gate side). Just incase you missed, you may read my review of lounge on Platform 16 here. I visited PF1 lounge few weeks back & here’s my detailed review on the same.
Table of Contents
Lounge Access
I used IDFC Wealth Credit Card by paying Re 2/- for self complimentary access. Accepted Credit Cards are as follows, as displayed in the lounge:
- IDFC Select & IDFC Wealth
- ICICI Coral/Rubyx/Sapphiro/MMT
- AU Altura/Vetta/Zenith
- SBI/Kotak IRCTC Platinum etc.
- Diners Club Cardmembers get 25% discount
Journey ticket + Photo ID like Aadhaar (mAadhaar also fine)/Voter ID/DL/Passport compulsory. PAN won’t work. Access will be denied in absence of any of these ID’s.
You get 2 hours of stay in the lounge per person, upon each eligible Card swipe + one time meal as per the time of the day.
If you don’t have any eligible Card, hourly pay & use option is also available separately for Lounge and Buffet (combine n pay as per your convenience)
Ambience
Entered the almost empty lounge around 8 PM & found ambience of the lounge good (on similar lines with PF16). The lounge consists of 2 areas adjacent to one another from entry door — First only had Seating Sofas without any food allowed & Second is the Dining Lounge area (after passing through the 1st portion).
- Seating area Sofa: 52 nos. with charging points+ 5 without charging points
- Dining area Chairs: 30, Dining area Sofa: 9
Buffet
Thankfully Buffet spread/variety was significantly better than its counterpart on PF16. Got pleasantly surprised to see Vinegar dipped onion.
Hot beverages like Tea/Coffee is also provided from a vending machine along with a Cookie pack, upon request.
Food Timings
- Breakfast: 5 am to 11 am
- Lunch: 12 pm to 4 pm
- Evening snacks: 4 pm to 7 pm
- Dinner: 7 pm to 12 pm
Resting Suites
PF1 Lounge also provides 3 resting suites (as they call it) on hourly payment basis only. Shower facility is also available on payment.
- Rest Suite 1: 6 Beds+ 3 Recliners
- Rest Suite 2: 3 Beds+ 2 Recliners
- Rest Suite 3: 9 Recliners only
Upcoming Chennai Lounge
India’s biggest Railway Lounge at Chennai Central Railway Station near PF 6/7 (by same vendor RMD) is likely to be operational sometime by early 2024. This lounge will be having a capacity to cater to 250 people at a time.
Bottomline
Having visited both PF1 & PF16 Lounges this year, I recommend you to visit the lounge at PF1, unless you have to board the train from PF16 and running short of time.
Keep in mind PF1 lounge has hourly charges too (though on little higher side) for those who want to pay & use, whereas PF16 lounge has 2 hourly pay policy.
Important to mention here that Railway lounges are far from reaching the level of Airport lounges anytime soon. It’s better to keep the expectations lower.
After all while initiating train journey if the station has a lounge- it’s better to pass little time in IRCTC lounge (perks of owning a right Credit Card) rather than at Platform.
Chennai lounge started its operation 2 days back in the Platform 6
Could you share the ambiance images
I dont know why you did not mentioned , how tough it is to reach the lounge on PF1.
Its very well on 1st floor and a long walk after climbing stair which are again well hidden. unless you ask 2-3 times the shopkeepers, you wont be able to reach.
only who are very having much buffer time and very hungry for leverging cards
I also searched lounge at pf 1 and wested 20 min with luggage but couldn’t find the location.