• Source:JND
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Amid growing concerns about preserving natural resources like drinking water, the Indian Railways has taken a significant step towards passenger convenience and sustainability. The Railways has announced a new policy for its Vande Bharat trains ensuring that each passenger receives a 500ml Rail Neer Packaged Drinking Water (PDW) bottle as a standard provision. It will also provide additional bottles to the passengers on demand without incurring any extra charges. 

Till now, one-litre water bottles were distributed to passengers on Vande Bharat trains like Rajdhani Express. However, since Vande Bharat trains do not travel long distances like Rajdhani, the Railways changed the restrictions and chose to include half-litre bottles in them.

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A similar initiative was taken in the Shatabdi trains, where passengers are given 500 ml Rail Neer bottles instead of standard one-litre bottles. In order to reduce water waste, the Railway Board gives limited water to passengers with a maximum run time of around 8.5 hours rather than 1-litre bottles of water to passengers travelling for more than five hours in Shatabdi trains.

Reportedly, the first Vande Bharat Express train was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 15, 2019, which is currently running between New Delhi and Varanasi. Currently, the semi-high-speed Vande Bharat Express train has a combination of white colour with blue stripes.

Vande Bharat Express trains are crucial due to safety reasons as these trains have armour technology. This technology helps in preventing accidents like the collision of trains on railway tracks. The executive coach also has the option of 180-degree swivel seats in addition to reclining seats. These trains also have a GPS-based audio-visual passenger information system, onboard hotspot Wi-Fi for entertainment purposes and comfortable reclining seats.