The Hindu Business Line : Clean toilets for Rlys won't come cheap

For a system that involves using vacuum toilets such as those in aircraft, the Railways may need to shell out Rs 25-30 lakh for each coach, or Rs 5-6 crore for a 20-coach train. These figures are as per the financial bids quoted by firms in a global tender invited by the Railways.

Given that each general compartment coach or a sleeper coach costs about Rs 45-50 lakh, putting another Rs 25-30 lakh for toilets appears a bit too expensive. The process involves collecting waste in a retention tank and discharging it at another terminal station later. The Railways had floated a global tender for providing such a system in a train operating between Bhavnagar and Bandra. The company is required to take care of ground handling facilities at these two stations.

Biodegradable method

In a related move, the Railways is shelling out almost Rs 8 lakh as equipment cost and another Rs 1.5-2 lakh as operations and maintenance cost per year, on a per coach basis, to set up biodegradable toilets. Thus for a 20 coach-train, the Railways would shell out almost Rs 1.6 crore as equipment cost alone.

An American firm Microphor, with Aikon Technologies as its Indian partner, has recently bagged a tender to set up 80 such toilets in a train based on bacteria treatment methodology for a pilot project, according to senior officials. This methodology uses bacteria to convert bio-waste mainly into water. These systems would be installed in Reva Express for a pilot project, said officials.

Additionally, for operations and maintenance, the Railways would shell out almost Rs 30 lakh each year (including service tax and surcharge) for the first two years and about Rs 41 lakh per annum for the subsequent three years. Given such high costs, it remains to be seen whether the Railways extends adoption of these systems to other trains.

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Clean toilets for Rlys won't come cheap