Train passengers, hope you are reading this one!
Indian Railways is going to begin work on installing 40,000 bio-digester toilets in trains, once bids are evaluated by May. The design of these bio-digester toilets has been mutually made by the railways and ministry of defence’s Gwalior-based Defence Research and Development Establishment.
This initiative is part of the railway’s vision for 2020 (which states zero discharge of feces on the tracks), declared by Suresh Prabhu, Railway Minister during his budget speech on February 24, 2016.
Since the installment of bio-digester toilets in few trains has been successful, the railways is betting big on the same. The process works in a way that anaerobic bacteria is introduced into the tank that holds the feces and turns it into liquid, which is disinfected with the help of chlorine. This disinfected liquid (almost the same as water) is then discharged on the tracks. The best part is that the bacteria is able to survive sub-zero to 60°C. As per an official, the weather conditions in which trains operate are perfect for the bacteria to survive. Because it is able to double itself in six to eight hours and survives for up to four months at normal temperature, it leaves the toilet odourless (almost).
The Railway Ministry has assigned a total of Rs. 2,450 crore to fit bio-toilets in 24,500 coaches (Rs. 10 lakh for each coach), out which Rs. 2,055 crore will be funded by the Indian Railway Finance Corporation; the railways will contribute Rs. 394 crore for the suggested plan.
