More than 1 lack bio-toilets installed in railways since 2011: Ministry

Indian Railways has installed more than one Lakh bio-toilets in trains till March 2018, seven years since 57 were installed in the Gwalior Varanasi Bundelkhand Express in January 2011, a statement from the Railway Ministry said today.

With 1,25,000 such toilets being installed, the ministry has now covered about 60 per cent of coaching fleet of the railways, the ministry said.

During 2017-18, the railways installed highest ever bio-toilets in coaches which is 40 per cent higher than the set target of 40,000 bio-toilets and 64 per cent higher than the fitment of 34,134 bio-toilets in 2016-17.

"Presently, railways has commissioned and operating 27 sections as Green Corridors. All the trains plying on these sections are running with coaches equipped with bio-toilets. Thus, there is no direct discharge of human waste from the trains running on these corridors," the statement said.

Under the bio-toilet project of Indian Railways, the toilets are fitted underneath the lavatories and the human waste discharged into them is acted upon by a colony of anaerobic bacteria that convert human waste mainly into water and small amount of bio-gases.

The gases escape into atmosphere and waste water is discharged after chlorination onto the track. Human waste, thus, does not fall on the railway tracks, improving cleanliness and hygiene at platforms and facilitate track and coaches maintenance staff to perform their work more efficiently.