Title - Railways get ready for eco-friendly toilets

An eco-friendly green toilet is a reality in an express train under the East Central Railway zone in Bihar, railway officials on Wednesday said.

For the first time, eco-friendly green toilets have been made part of the Barauni–Gawalior Express. "This express train has become the first train in the zone to introduce green toilets" an official of the ECR, headquarters at Hajipur near Patna, said.

According to railway officials, green toilet, was developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, automatically goes into ready to use mode when the train catches speed of 30 km and above.

After the Barauni-Gawalior Express, railways plan to introduce green toilet on Varanasi-Mumbai Mahanagri Express and other long route trains in the next few months. "Several trains will be equipped with green toilets in the coming months," railway officials said.

"Railways have decided to introduce green toilets in 2,500 bogies of several trains at an estimated cost of Rs 350 crore (Rs 3.5 bilion). The move is aimed at improving hygiene in toilets on running trains," a railway official said. Kapurthala based Integral Coach Factory is manufacturing these green toilets.

The official said each bio-toilet comprises two chambers, which are fitted between the wheels of the train. While water is allowed to trickle down the tracks, human excreta is collected in one of the chambers.

The first chamber breaks down the waste in six-seven days through chemical action. The resultant liquid then gets shifted into the second chamber, where it is treated with chlorine before its disposal elsewhere.