All passengers get free food on the Nanded-Amritsar Sachkhand Express. This is part of the Sikh ‘Langar’ tradition, in which volunteers from Gurdwaras serve food at stations. This service has been running on donations for 29+ years.
Nanded-Amritsar Sachkhand Express: If you have ever traveled by train, you will definitely be familiar with this experience. Packing a home-cooked meal before a ride, waiting for the pantry car to staff you, or scouring mobile apps to order biryani or something right at your seat. All this is an important part of train travel. Generally, food served in trains is expensive and most passengers prefer to carry their own food. But, there is such a unique train in India, in which no matter which compartment or seat you sit in, you do not need to pay even a single rupee for food. This is not a joke, but a tradition that has been going on for almost three decades.
Which is the Indian train that provides free food?
The Sachkhand Express running between the cities of Nanded in Maharashtra and Amritsar in Punjab is a living example of this unique tradition. Every passenger traveling in this train is given free food. It is part of the sacred ‘Langar’ tradition of Sikhism, which is based on the principle of community kitchen.
This food is not prepared in the pantry cars of Indian Railways. Instead, volunteers at Gurudwaras along the train’s route prepare home-cooked, pure and hot food. Then, at designated stations, volunteers board the train and lovingly serve food to all the passengers.
A beautiful journey connecting sacred cities
Sachkhand Express connects the 2 most sacred places of Sikhism. Huzur Sahib Gurudwara located in Nanded, Maharashtra and Golden Temple located in Amritsar, Punjab are the starting and ending stations of this train. This train covers a distance of more than 2,000 kilometers in a journey of approximately 33 hours. Passing through many big cities and areas like Parbhani, Jalna, Aurangabad, Bhopal, New Delhi and Marathwada, the train stops at a total of 39 stations on its way.
At many stations, volunteers from local Gurudwaras board the train and distribute hot, pure and home-cooked food prepared in the form of langar to all the passengers. The basic principle of this system is to provide equal food to all, without any discrimination of caste, religion, language or social background.
How does this work?
This humanitarian tradition has been running successfully for more than 29 years. This provision of free food is completely dependent on donations received by the Gurudwaras. Using donations from devotees, fresh food is prepared every day. According to a fixed schedule, the food is packed and delivered to the stations exactly at the time of the train’s stoppage. From there, volunteers take it inside the train and distribute it to passengers in all the coaches. This system, which runs without any profit and only in the spirit of service, is a great example of humanity and brotherhood.