A dining car on a high-speed train from Beijing to Shanghai. (Photo/Xinhua)

Passengers on Chinese trains are now able to choose from a wider variety of food than they were several decades ago, xinhuanet.com reported on Aug. 29.

"Peanuts, roasted melon seeds, instant noodles! Beer, juice and mineral water!" A vendor calls out to his potential customers.

In the years immediately following the founding of the People's Republic of China, most Chinese people prepared food for their train trips, as trains were seldom equipped with a dining car, recalled Zhao Hongji from the China Railway Beijing Bureau.

When the 1970s and 1980s arrived, chefs on the dining car put ingredients in an iron box filled with ice cubes and covered the box with a quilt. To preserve the food on long, two-day journeys, the ice was replaced halfway through, Zhao said.

At that time, the dining car was not a comfortable place. It was freezing in winter and hot like a sauna in summer, said Huang Ye, a cook on the Beijing-Chongqing rail line of the Shijiazhuang Passenger Transport Section.

The trains at that time only offered a few types of packed bento, Huang said.

As time went by, the food selection available on trains started to grow, and by the 1990s, induction cookers, smoke ventilators, and large refrigerators were standard.

Beside packed bento, passengers could choose between rice, fried dishes as well as snacks on the trains. Furthermore, the dining car became more friendly and comfortable for both cooks and customers, with tables and decorations such as napkin flowers.

As bullet trains started operation in China, food services on the train were also boosted, in part thanks to the advancement in technology and mobile internet.

Shijiazhuang was one of the first railway stations to introduce the online pre-ordering service for passengers taking G and D-bullet trains. Passengers can order meals from restaurants in partnership with the station one or two hours in advance via 12306.cn, the rail system's official ticket-booking website, or its mobile application.

No matter whether you fancy Chongqing spicy dishes or Cantonese-style soups, the train will have it, said a passenger named Song Chuyu at the Beijing West Railway Station.