Frequent complaints from Indian Railways passengers in long-distance trains about toilets being dirty during the journey is not uncommon. Despite the guidelines by the national transporter, the toilets get dirty due to garbage being thrown and flushed down the system. This type of problem is usually seen in bio-toilets of Indian Railways as in these type of toilets which convert human waste to water and gases and the dirt does not fall on the track. Indian Railways introduced bio-toilets to keep the railway tracks free of human waste, but despite the guidelines, passengers often throw paper-cups, plastic bottles, etc. in these toilets, making them stinky and dirty. However, soon the problem of stinking and dirty toilets will end, states an NBT report, adding that a new made-in-Europe machine is being used to ensure cleanliness. The report said that the machines costs around Rs 11 lakh.
With the help of this machine, no manual work is required. The old machines had to be cleaned manually and in this process, the live bacteria in the tank were also destroyed. Not only that, the whole process was expensive too. After research and testing, Indian Railways finally decided to buy this new machine. In this new system, in case of choking due to garbage, the problem can be fixed without any external effort. Using old machines, it was possible to clean the tank of only 60 coaches in a month, while the new machine can be used to clean 180 coaches in a period of one month. Regular use of this new machine will get rid of the problem of stinking bio-toilets, the report claimed.
The machine has been successfully tested at two prominent stations in Mumbai namely, Mumbai Central and Bandra Terminus. Gradually, these machines will be used across all zones of the Indian Railways, the report added.