| Stink-free train ride in five years by riteshexpert on 28 July, 2012 - 08:00 AM | ||
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 riteshexpert | Stink-free train ride in five years on 28 July, 2012 - 08:00 AM | |
The stench that has marked India’s trains, platforms and tracks for 160 years could largely disappear by 2017 if the government can deliver on an ambitious plan to revamp train toilets.The railways have been using odour-removing, bio-friendly toilets since 2008 but in only nine select trains. The idea now is to retrofit all the 50,000 coaches that crisscross the country every day with these toilets, developed by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO).Unlike the traditional train toilets, these “bio-digesters” will not release the waste on the tracks — a practice that is the single biggest source of the cringe-inducing stink that permeates the country’s railway system.Instead, these toilets will use bacteria brought from Antarctica to digest the waste and convert it into odourless methane gas and water.“The technology is self-sustaining: the anaerobic bacteria will survive and grow without oxygen inside the bio-tank,” said S. Radhakrishnan, a director at DRDO.The DRDO had originally developed these toilets for use by soldiers in high-altitude areas such as Siachen. One of its scientists, Ravi Gupta, said the bio-toilets for trains had been designed keeping in mind passengers’ habit of throwing “hard substances like plastic bottles and paper” into toilets.“So, these toilets will have a filter to tap the hard objects, and the tank will be large in size,” he said. | ||