In-train waterfall! Massive water leak inside Vande Bharat!

Lucknow: The BJP-led Union government’s flagship premium railway service, Vande Bharat, is making headlines nowadays for all the wrong reasons. On Monday, passengers of a Varanasi-Delhi 22415 Vande Bharat Express had a wet and humid journey after a large leak of water from the roof inside a compartment. The water leak, which was through the AC vents, was likened to an in-train waterfall by some.

Times of India reported a passenger’s nightmarish eight-hour journey in a humid filled compartment, drenched in water and the AC turned off. The passenger, identified as Darshil Mishra, said that his gadgets, clothes and other passengers in the compartment were drenched. The train staff switched off the AC around his berth, and the air inside the compartment turned humid.

According to Darshil, when he alerted the train staff onboard, they responded by telling him to adjust, while the Train Ticket Examiner (TTE) did not even show up to address the serious situation.

A complimentary "waterfall" service unlocked in the Delhi-bound 22415 Vande Bharat express caught the passangers off-raincoat. pic.twitter.com/ioLd3HniPC

— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) June 24, 2025

Darshil shot a video about this and uploaded it to social media, which caught a storm. He said that when Vande Bharat Express, which is touted as a symbol of modern rail travel in India, is expected to provide comfort and efficiency as promised, the ordeal he and his co-passengers went through highlights the serious lapses in maintenance, which is undermining the premium service’s reputation.

Netizens sharply responded to the video online. Slamming and mocking the Centre’s celebrated service, a user commented, Vande Bharat: The first train with a shower service”. A second user slammed, Brand-new train, and it’s already leaking? Incompetency at its peak.”

Many users online questioned the quality of the build of the train and demanded railway authority's accountability.

It was only a day ago that the premium train service made headlines after a passenger was thrashed by the goons of an MLA of the ruling BJP party. The MLA from Uttar Pradesh was travelling with his family on the train, but he was allotted a seat far from where his family was seated. So, when he demanded a passenger to switch seats, and he refused, a set of the MLA’s people boarded the train from a station and thrashed the passenger mercilessly, according to reports.

Last year, there were also reports of a water leak from the Vande Bharat train’s roof.­