The Indian Railways has introduced a new initiative aimed at reducing the wastage of drinking water on Vande Bharat trains. Passengers traveling on these trains will now be provided with 500 ml bottles of Rail Need Packaged Drinking Water (PDW) for their journey. Additionally, passengers can request another 500 ml PDW bottle at no extra cost. This decision comes in response to observations that not all passengers consume the entire one-liter water bottles previously provided, leading to wastage.
This initiative mirrors a similar move introduced on Shatabdi trains in 2019, where passengers receive 500 ml PDW bottles instead of larger ones. Vande Bharat Express trains, operational on over 40 routes in India, were launched in 2019 with modern features such as WiFi connectivity, entertainment screens, and a mini pantry.
The announcement of this new water bottle policy coincides with an extreme heatwave affecting several states across India, including West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Karnataka, Jharkhand, and Telangana.
