GUWAHATI: The Central Railway Department has come up with a scheme of installing vacuum bio-toilets which will be odour free and also help cut down usage of water.
Having spent nearly Rs. 1370 cr on bio-toliets and still being criticized for being “no better than septic tanks”, the Railway Ministry is now considering “upgraded” vacuum bio-toilets at a cost of Rs. 6250 cr.
According to Railway Ministry officials, 1, 36,965 toilets have been fitted in 37,411 coaches, at a cost of around Rs 1 Lakh per toilet as of May 31, 2018.
The officials plan on installing 18,750 more coaches with bio-toilets by March 2019.
The fitting of such toilets in all the coaches of the Indian Railway will cost an estimate of Rs. 250 cr.
"We have started experimenting with vacuum bio-toilets like those in an aeroplane. Some 500 vacuum bio-toilets have been ordered and once the experiment is successful, I am willing to spend money to replace all the 2.5 lakh toilets in the trains with vacuum bio-toilets,” said Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.