Rail Budget 2012-13: Green toilets to be installed in 2,500 coaches

NEW DELHI: Corrosion from night soil being discharged from toilets on tracks costs Rs 350 crore annually; Dinesh Trivedi, Union Railway Minister said while presenting the Railway Budget in Lok Sabha. He said green toilets will be installed in 2,500 coaches in the next one year.

Trivedi said, "Standard of hygiene needs to be improved substantially; all out efforts will be made on this in the next six months."

He said the Railways was duty bound to provide high standard of services and the it would set up special housekeeping body for stations and trains.

Manufacturing of bio-toilets is part of the green initiatives being undertaken by the nation's largest transporter to improve the cleanliness in rail premises.

Estimated to cost about Rs one lakh per bio-toilet, these new age toilets will be manufactured at Kapurthala coach factory and fitted in long-route trains.

The anaerobic bacteria inside the toilets consume waste material and convert it into water and gas in the bio-toilet system. The water passing through chlorine tank is discharged as clean water and the gas generated evaporates into the atmosphere.

Railways had joined hands with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for development of bio-toilets.