Indian Railways’ new initiative brings local food to Vande Bharat trains

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The government has formulated a new plan for Vande Bharat trains. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav discussed plans to provide local food on these trains at a meeting with officials at Rail Bhavan on Saturday. The Minister said that serving local food would enhance the passenger experience, allowing them to experience the flavors and culture of the region while traveling. He added that this feature would be gradually implemented on all trains in the future.

The Railway Minister stated that Indian Railways has taken strict action against fake identities in train ticket bookings, and this is yielding positive results. A stringent system has been implemented to identify fake IDs and establish genuine identities, resulting in approximately 5,000 new user IDs being created daily on the IRCTC website. Before the last reform, this number had reached 100,000.

So far, 30.3 million fake accounts have been blocked, and 27 million user IDs have been temporarily suspended for engaging in suspicious activities.

Earlier this week, a Union minister told Parliament that an Aadhaar-based OTP system has been implemented to prevent fraud and ensure fairness in online Tatkal ticket booking. The system has been implemented on 322 trains, increasing Tatkal ticket verification time by approximately 65 percent.

Additionally, the Aadhaar-based OTP booking system is being implemented at railway reservation counters. This system has now been implemented on 211 trains (by December 4, 2025). This has led to improved Tatkal ticket availability on 95 percent of 96 major trains.

The Railway Minister further stated that a process of re-verification and verification of user accounts has been implemented. To date, 30.2 million suspicious user IDs have been blocked since January 2025. Anti-bot solutions like Akamai are being used to weed out fraudulent users and make bookings easier and smoother for genuine passengers.