Scoop the poop : Why Railways want to add bio-toilets

The railway is concerned about the environment, and that was clearly visible in the speech made by Dinesh Trivedi today. “Madam, the problem of environmental degradation and corrosion of tracks due to night soil has been engaging the attention of the railways for a long time”, he said.

The Railway Minister seemed very keen on taking initiatives to help improve the environment as the rail corrosion costs railways more then Rs 350 crore every year. Rail tracks get corroded because of the discharge from toilets. The new design ‘green’ toilets should help prevent the damage to the tracks.

[caption id=“attachment_244393” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Rail tracks get corroded because of the discharge from toilets. Reuters”]  [/caption]

An annual report on railways stated that it is one of the least polluting modes of transport. Therefore, efforts are being made to reduce the impact of the railway operation on the environment.

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However, he said that there was an urgent need to replace the conventional open-discharge toilets with Green Toilets. In the next year, Railways plan to equip 2,500 coaches with bio-toilets while vacuum toilets are also being planned on a few premium trains.

According to Cleanindiashow, these newly designed lavatories are likely to be manufactured in Motibagh workshop in Nagpur under the South East Central Railway (SECR). Unlike earlier toilets, the new ones would not allow the refuse to fall on the tracks. Instead, it would be collected in a 900 litre tank fixed below the coach floor.

The interiors are similar to the current train toilets. The retention tank is provided with a small vent at the top of the coach so that the gases generated in the tank escape into the atmosphere. The system also requires fitting of an underground drainage facility at stations to discharge the wastes, the article added.

The railways had signed a MoU with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for development of bio-toilets for rail coaches.