Railways flush out waste the green way

Now, all passenger coaches will have eco-friendly toilets

NEW DELHI: In an attempt to do away with the prevalent system of open discharge of waste, the Indian Railways will introduce green toilets in all its passenger coaches.

“Our aim is to do away with the conventional toilets that are operational in passenger coaches in the interest of environment protection, cleanliness and sanitation,” said a senior railway official.

Railway authorities are exploring three kinds of systems — controlled discharge, biodegradable and vacuum-retention toilet.

“To begin with, we have introduced the controlled-discharge toilet system in some coaches. The system ensures that waste from toilets are discharged on the tracks beyond a predetermined speed of the train. This means waste is discharged only after the trains have left the stations and have attained a certain speed. This helps in keeping the tracks at the stations clean and free from waste,” said the official.

Vacuum-retention toilet, which are used in airplanes, works on vacuum-assisted suction of waste. It retains the waste in an under-slung storage tank and final evacuation takes place at terminals through a ground installation provided for the purpose.

“We have invited tenders and currently a technical evaluation is on. Depending on its technical assessment we will take the next step for using it in certain coaches,” said the official.