NEW DELHI: A passenger travelling on the Vande Bharat Express recently took to social media to complain about the poor condition of the train claiming that the train had “dirty tables, soiled seats, and inaccessible toilets.“The passenger also shared photos showing dirty tables, missing hand dryers, wirings hanging, stained seats, and inaccessible toilet conditions.“Today’s 20664 Vande Bharat is a different set than usual. It’s in a pathetic condition. Seatbacks are filthy, tables dirty, accessible toilet inaccessible, hand dryers missing, seats soiled. What happened to the normal Orange rake, & why is this supposedly flagship train so bad?” the passenger wrote on Monday, expressing shock that the train, which is less than two years old, was already in such poor shape.“I’d like to remind everyone that this train is LESS THAN TWO YEARS OLD! If this is how we’re maintaining the trainsets, no one can help us. The normal Orange rake is actually not badly maintained, this one is disgusting,” the passengers added.Responding to the post, the Indian Railways clarified that the regular Rake No. 59 — had been taken for maintenance and temporarily replaced with Spare Rake No. 29.“This is to inform you that original Rake No. 59 has been replaced with Spare Rake No. 29 from 06/10/25, as Rake No. 59 was taken for SS-1. Rake No. 29, received from SMVB on 04/10/25, underwent pit attention on 05/10/25. During inspection, interior cleaning was done, seat recliners attended, and hand dispensers and dryers provided. Remaining deficiencies will be addressed tonight, and a consolidated report will follow. Thank you for reporting this,” the Railways said in a statement.Social media users quickly joined the discussion, sharing mixed reactions to the incident. One user commented, “We just don’t know the art of maintenance, it’s not available by default in the Indian mindset. Even the newer ones look and feel substandard compared to trains in other parts of the world.”Another traveller countered, saying that maintenance standards differ across routes: “The Vande Bharat train I have been on multiple times is older than this and still looks brand new. In fact, the workers often ask if we need any assistance in case the washroom is not clean enough. It looks like people there really need to fix their mindsets.”A third user pointed out that passengers also share some responsibility for upkeep: “It’s not the Railways’ issue, it’s a civic sense issue. Yes, they have to repair it, but these trains get one or two days off a week, so they should be maintained then. And cameras should be used to check who broke what.”The Railways have assured that the deficiencies will be fixed and that the original rake will be back in service soon.