Indian railways to have bio-toilets in all trains by 2022

By Tweet, www.deccanchronicle.com   July 22nd, 2014

Picture for representational purposes only Photo by: Photo: PTI/File

New Delhi: Seeking to provide a clean and eco-friendly travel to passengers, railways is planning to eliminate direct discharge type toilets from its entire fleet of passenger coaches and replacing the system with bio-toilets by the end of 2021-22.

Railways is envisaging to eliminate direct discharge toilet system from its entire fleet of passenger coaches by the end of 2012-12, the national transporter has said in a recent report to National Human Rights Commission.

Railways has assured the NHRC that it is making sincere efforts to overcome the problem of falling of human waste from train toilets on rail tracks.

The prevailing open discharge of human waste on tracks is not only corroding the rails, it is becoming a serious environment hazard for the railways.

According to a senior railway ministry official, corrosion costs railways over Rs.350 crore every year.

Continuing its efforts to provide a clean and eco-friendly travel to train passengers, railways has expedited the work of fitting bio-toilets in coaches with over 2,000 of them already installed so far. Railways have about 50,000 coaches.

Railways have installed bio-toilets in 2774 coaches till December 2013. The toilets have been fitted in Sleeper and AC coaches of premier and mail/express trains.

The green toilets not only prevent discharge of excrement on tracks and maintain cleanliness but will also help do away with manual scavenging.

The new-age green toilets have been designed by Railways along with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) keeping in mind the requirements of Indian trains.

The bio-toilets are fitted underneath the lavatories and the human waste discharged into them is acted upon by a particular kind of bacteria that converts human waste into non-corrosive neutral water.

"I am arrive by passenger train Ahmedpur station and my belly is too much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the nuisance that guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with 'lotah' in one hand and 'dhoti' in the next when I am fall over and expose all my shocking to man and female women on plateform. I am got leaved at Ahmedpur station.

"This too much bad, if passenger go to make dung that dam guard not wait train five minutes for him. I am therefore pray your honour to make big fine on that guard for public sake. Otherwise I am making big report! to papers."

One Okhil Chandra Sen had written this hilarious letter to the Sahibganj divisional railway office in 1909. The letter is on display at the Railway Museum in New Delhi. This letter supposedly led to the introduction of toilets on trains.

Last year on April 13, a Google Doodle celebrated 160 years of the gigantic Indian Railways, which is a treasure trove of such historical nuggets.

For example, how many of us know that the idea of a railway to connect Bombay with Thane, Kalyan and with the Thal and Bhore Ghats inclines first occurred to George Clark, the Chief Engineer of the Bombay government, during a visit to Bhandup in 1843?

The idea took the form of reality and the first railway on Indian sub-continent ran over a stretch of 21 miles from Bombay to Thane on April 16, 1853. The importance of the day can be gauged from the fact the Bombay government declared the day as a public holiday.

The first passenger train steamed out of Howrah station destined for Hooghly, a distance of 24 miles, on August 15, 1854, exactly 91 years before the country was to become Independent.

In 1951, the system was nationalised, making Indian Railways one of the largest networks in the world.

Other interesting facts about Indian Railways

Fastest train

New Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi Express is the fastest train in India. It covers the 704 km New Delhi - Bhopal stretch in 7 hours 50 minutes. The all air-conditioned superfast train clocks a maximum speed of 150km/h on the Faridabad-Agra section.

Slowest train

The slowest running train in the Indian Railways is the Metupalayam-Ooty Nilgri Passenger Train that runs at the speed of 10 km/hour.

Longest route

Nagpur-Ajni route is the shortest.

Longest non-stop travel

Trivandrum - Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express travels the 528km stretch between Vadodara and Kota non-stop.

Maximum stops

The record for maximum number of stops by an Express/Mail train is held by Howrah - Amritsar Express with 115 halts during its journey.

Shortest station name

Ib, near Jharsuguda in Odisha and Od, near Anand in Gujarat.

Longest station name

Venkatanarasimharajuvariipeta on the Arakkonam-Renigunta section near Chennai.

World's longest platform

Indian Railways has the longest railway platform in the world in Kharagpur. It is 2,733 feet in length.

Longest rail bridge

Vembanad Rail Bridge in Kerala is the longest rail bridge in India covering a stretch of 4.62 km.

Longest tunnel

The longest tunnel of Indian Railways is Pir Panjal Tunnel of length 11.215 km.