Rajdhani, Shatabdi trains to serve food on eco-friendly disposable plates

In the wake of World Environment Day today, host country India took a small but significant step, marking its commitment to switching to eco-friendly measures. The move relates to the use of eco-friendly disposable plates in select Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains originating from New Delhi.

Passengers of 8 trains will be served meals in such plates as the Railways Ministry and IRCTC conduct a trial run to see how the proposed plan of switching to bagasse-based food packaging fares.

The plan to wean away from the use of polymer plates is part of IRCTC's ongoing drive to go green.


Bagasse, the fibrous remains left behind after extracting sugarcane juice, is being used to make disposable cutlery and containers in which meals will be served.

Used plates would be subsequently collected, then processed for disposal through composting to ensure environmental sustainability.

Following the initial trails, it is hoped that bagasse-based packaging could be proposed as a viable alternative to the existing non bio-degradable material being used on all Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duranto trains in the coming months.