In a major initiative to clean up the Indian Railways, railway minister Dinesh Trivedi declared that 2012 will see the introduction of bio-toilets in 2,500 coaches.
Mr Trivedi, while presenting the Railway Budget, observed that “environmental degradation and corrosion of tracks due to night soil was costing the railways losses of over Rs 350 crores per year.’
Not only was human excrement corroding a significant percentage of the country’s total 1.1 lakh kilometres of track but it was also decreasing the life span of the railway network.
The minister highlighted that both the (Anil) Kakodkar and the (Sam) Pitroda committees had stressed the need to replace the convention open-discharge toilets with “green toilets”, which will help provide a cleaner, more hygienic and safer railway ecosystem.
The railways have been experimenting with zero-discharge toilets based on models developed by the DRDO. Field trials of these bio-toilets are said to have entered their final stage. “Trials with retention-evacuation type toilets, such as vacuum toilets, are also being planed on a few premium trains,” Mr Trivedi stressed.
The Kakodar Committee had found evidence to show that discharge from toilets was corroding rails, clips and liners which hold the tracks together and also left the under carriage. filthy with maintenance workers often refusing to clean it.
Other green initiatives include setting up of 200 remote railways stations which will be called “green energy stations” because these will be powered by solar energy.
The railways also plans to provide solar lighting system at 1,000 manned level crossing gates. In a bid to lower CO2 emissions, mobile emission test cards will be introduced which will monitor the pollution levels of diesel locomotives.
According to the railway minister, 72MW capacity windmill plants will be set up in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Two bio-diesel plants are set to be commissioned next year at Raipur and Tondiarpet.