A group of Malayali students from the University of Delhi has turned their long and exhausting train journeys between Kerala and Delhi into a startup idea aimed at improving travel hygiene.
The students — Mizhab K, Muhammed Nihad, Abhishek Roopesh, and later Suhail V — regularly travelled across eight states on a 46-hour journey and often faced poor sanitation conditions on trains. Frequent discussions in their university WhatsApp group highlighted shared complaints about unclean washrooms and the difficulty of maintaining hygiene during long-distance travel.
These conversations eventually led to the creation of Travel Essentia, a Gurugram-based startup that has launched a 10-piece rail hygiene kit designed for train passengers. The kit includes everyday essentials such as a toothbrush, toothpaste, wet wipes, wet towel, paper soap, sanitiser sachets, toilet seat covers, a cutlery set, a face mask, and a cotton pouch. The packaging is designed innovatively and can even be converted into simple board games like Ludo or Snakes and Ladders.
Priced at ₹149, the kit focuses on compact, single-use hygiene products that are easy to carry and use during long journeys. The founders said the idea came from identifying commonly forgotten essentials and addressing the lack of basic sanitation facilities on trains.
Travel Essentia currently operates with a small team and warehouses in Gurugram and Kozhikode. The product was first launched at a promotional stall at Kozhikode railway station on April 16 and is now being sold online, receiving orders from across the country.
The startup is also exploring partnerships with government bodies and travel operators to make the kits available directly on trains. Plans are underway to introduce them on select services such as the Vande Bharat Express between Mangalore and Thiruvananthapuram, with hopes of expanding to premium trains like Rajdhani Express.
Beyond rail travel, the company is looking to expand into hygiene kits for long-distance bus journeys and other travel needs, with suggestions from users even pointing towards adding items like sanitary pads in future versions.
