Vande Bharat Trains to Serve Regional Cuisine Like Puran Poli, Poha and Misal
New Delhi, 13th December 2025: The Railways Ministry has directed officials to introduce region-specific local cuisine on Vande Bharat trains, with plans to gradually extend the initiative to other trains across the network.
The decision was taken during a review meeting at Rail Bhawan chaired by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, which was also attended by Minister of State Ravneet Singh Bittu. Officials were instructed to ensure that food served on Vande Bharat services reflects the culinary traditions of the regions through which the trains operate.
According to officials, the move is aimed at aligning onboard services with regional diversity, with implementation on Vande Bharat trains as the first phase. The expansion to additional trains will be carried out progressively.
During the meeting, the Railways Ministry also reviewed ongoing reforms in the ticketing system. Officials reported that measures to curb ticket booking through fake or duplicate identities have shown results. Following the introduction of stricter user verification systems on the IRCTC platform, the number of new user registrations has reduced to about 5,000 per day, compared to nearly one lakh per day earlier.
Railway authorities informed that 3.03 crore fake user accounts have been deactivated so far. In addition, around 2.7 crore accounts have been temporarily suspended or marked for suspension based on suspicious activity.
The ministers directed officials to continue reforms aimed at ensuring that ticket bookings are carried out only through genuine and verified user accounts, enabling equitable access to railway reservations.
