Rameswaram-Manamadurai rail track to go green; coaches to have bio-toilets

The Railways ‘First Green Train Corridor — Rameswaram-Manamadurai’, which is free from human waste discharge from trains will pave the way for cleaner stations and tracks, and a hygienic travel experience for passengers. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated the facility through video conferencing between Chennai and Rameswaram station on Sunday.

The Rameswarm-Manamadurai (114 km) track was identified to make it free from human waste discharge from trains, and accordingly, 10 passenger trains consisting of 286 coaches moving over this section have been provided with bio-toilets, said an official statement.

After Rameswarm-Manamadurai, the Okha-Kanalas Junction (141 km), Porbandar-Wansjaliya (34 km) and Jammu-Katra (78 km) would be taken up for making them free from human waste discharge from trains. For this, around 35 trains consisting of nearly 1,110 coaches would be provided with bio-toilets, for which work is underway, stated a release. These sections and stations were chosen because the number of trains originating and terminating at these stations and sections are few, thus making it operationally easier and faster to make them human-discharge free.

At present, each bio-toilet costs about ₹80,000, Hemant Kumar, Member (Mechanical), Railway Board, had told BusinessLine .

The Railways is also trying to get some funds from the Swachh Bharat cleanliness kitty that the Centre collects through Swachh Bharat Cess on provision of goods and services, including train tickets.

“At present, Railways dips into its depreciation reserve fund or the safety fund as use of these toilets also lower corrosion of tracks,” S Mookerjee, Financial Commissioner, Railway Board, had told BusinessLine earlier. To contribute to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Ministry has taken up the task of providing human discharge-free bio-toilets in all its coaches, and the same will be completed by September 2019.

The Ministry had already provided 40,750 bio-toilets in its coaches as of June 30 this year, and plans are afoot to fit additional 30,000 bio-toilets in the current financial year.

The technology for the bio-toilets has been developed jointly by the Railways and Defence Research and Development Organisation, and is the “first of its kind,” says the statement.

In the bio-toilet fitted coaches, human waste is collected in tanks below the toilets and the same is decomposed by a consortium of bacteria.

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