India’s first Vande Bharat Sleeper train, kick-started on the Howrah-Kamakhya route, is drawing significant attention on the internet not only for its overnight travel experience, but also for the onboard
food menu. On X (formerly Twitter), several users have claimed that passengers were being served “poor quality” and “insufficient quantity” of food compared to what was given during its inaugural journey.
Flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 17, the Kamakhya-Howrah Vande Bharat Sleeper Express has been designed for overnight travel and connects Kamakhya in Assam with West Bengal’s Howrah. In total, the train has 16 coaches and offers three travel classes – Third AC, Second AC and First AC.
The Vande Bharat Sleeper received a strong response from passengers as tickets for the special train were sold out soon after bookings opened.
‘Bad catering’ On Vande Bharat Sleeper
On X, a person shared two photographs of dinner being served on the train. In the first image, the X user highlighted how good quality food was served during the inaugural journey of the train, which included well-cooked rice, dal, paneer, roti, sweet and other items. However, the second picture shows how the quality of food items changed during a “regular journey”.
“Dinner of India’s 1st Sleeper Vande Bharat,” he wrote alongside the images.
Dinner of India's 1st Sleeper Vande Bharat
Inaugural Journey Regular Journey pic.twitter.com/IIJTa3tRpB
— Uday Chatterjee (@UdayChatterje) January 23, 2026
Another person spoke about the experience after travelling in the 3AC coach from Kamakhya to Howrah. The person said that he had a “very unpleasent experience”.
“The food was horrible…there was no dal (They said all the dal was spilled once the train started moving). The rice was overcooked, and there was no paneer. The sabjis were undercooked and had no masala. The Roti was hard, only the dahi and the red sweet were good. Moreover, the quantity was not enough at all,” the person wrote while sharing the travel experience.
They even claimed that the staff onboard was “confused” and passengers were “complaining and fighting with the manager,” while some of them were not provided their meals.
While sharing the screenshot of the passenger’s experience, the X account wrote, “Passengers report poor food quality, insufficient quantity, no dal/paneer, hard rotis, and overcooked rice. Staff confusion, food not served to some, bedsheets running out, and chaos onboard. Premium branding means nothing without basic service delivery.”
Reality check on the new Vande Bharat Sleeper (3AC):
Passengers report poor food quality, insufficient quantity, no dal/paneer, hard rotis, and overcooked rice.
Staff confusion, food not served to some, bedsheets running out, and chaos onboard.Premium branding means nothing… pic.twitter.com/FQmSjBjSul
— The Bihar Index (@IndexBihar) January 23, 2026
Similar instances of “bad catering” were highlighted by a few others on social media.
“Many passengers are complaining about extremely low quality food served by Base kitchen of IRCTC, GHY in 27576 KYQ HWH on first commercial run,” one X user wrote and added that only dinner was served onboard, while other things like morning or evening tea was not provided to passengers.
BAD CATERING AT VANDE BHARAT SLEEPER
Another one asserted that during the inauguration of the Vande Bharat Sleeper, “good quality 5 Star hotel food” was served, but during the commercial run, people are receiving “low quality food,” despite getting charged a premium fare.
During inauguration of Vande Bharat Sleeper between Howrah and Kamakhya good quality 5 Star hotel food served when free ride is given to social media influencers while on commercial run low quality food despite Charing premium fare @RailMinIndia @trainwalebhaiya @rajtoday https://t.co/ii77MHrtQz pic.twitter.com/hLJcvwzBI7
— Red Beast WAP4 (@arpan355) January 23, 2026
Food Menu For Vande Bharat Sleeper
According to NDTV, the menu for the train has been curated by Mayfair Spring Valley Resort in Guwahati in collaboration with the IRCTC. It stayed focused on
regional identity as well as seasonal ingredients and vegetarian dishes.While onboard, passengers can expect Bengali dishes like basanti pulao, cholar dal, moong dal, chanar and dhokar preparations. Other things in the menu include joha rice, mati mohor, masoor dali and seasonal vegetable bhajis.
Several traditional sweets like sandesh, narikol burfi and rasgulla have also been added to the menu.
