Bio-toilets in all coaches of Palakkad division

In Palakkad railway division, out of 552 coaches, 525 coaches are provided with bio-toilets. By providing bio-toilets in the remaining 27 coaches by the end of this month, Palakkad Division will have all its coaches fitted with bio toilets, said Divisional Railway Manager Pratap Singh Shami.

Out of 6,603 coaches in Southern Railway, 5,443 coaches have been provided with bio-toilets up to November, 2018.

With this 82% of the zone’s rolling stock is fitted with the environment-friendly bio-toilets. The remaining coaches will also be retrofitted with bio-toilets by June, 2019. Human waste is collected in the tank fitted beneath the lavatories and converted into methane and water with the help of bacteria thereby avoiding spillage of human waste in the open, along the tracks, he added.

Further, Rameswaram-Manamadurai, Tiruchirapalli-Manamadurai, Madurai-Manamadurai, Virudunagar-Manamadurai and Shoranur-Nilambur sections have been acknowledged as green train corridors of the Southern Railway. All the trains passing through the above sections are equipped with bio-toilets ensuring zero discharge on tracks, Shami said.

All trains running in Shoranur-Nilambur section, which has been declared as “Green Corridor,” have been equipped with bio-toilets. Shoranur depot is having all coaches fitted with bio-toilets, he added.

He said the success of the bio-toilet system largely depends on the co-operation of passengers, who should not throw any inorganic materials like bottles, polythene, napkins, paper or plastic cups, paper, nappies, cloth, gutka pouches, cigarette or bidi buds etc., in toilet pans or bowls.

“Southern Railway has outsourced mechanised cleaning of coaches under Clean Train Station (CTS) scheme,” Shami said and added that On Board Housekeeping Service (OBHS) is provided in 102 trains to ensure cleanliness and hygiene coaches in running trains.

The Coach Mitra scheme has also been introduced in all the 102 trains covered under OBHS scheme.

Coach Mitra scheme will take care of linen complaints, water availability, petty repairs, and electrical repairs, pest control/disinfectants apart from coach cleaning requirements.

Onboard passengers can SMS their complaints to Coach Mitra dedicated helpline mobile number 9821736069 quoting their PNR number, he added.

Shami said that in Palakkad division, 10 pairs of trains are provided with On board Housekeeping Service facility.

He said BOOT (Build, Own, Operate, Transfer) laundries are planned to be commissioned at Madurai, Coimbatore, Mangaluru, Nagercoil and Ernakulam to provide mechanised washing of 13,000 additional sets of linen daily.

Tender has been floated for the BOOT laundry with one-tonne capacity to be commissioned at Ullal for the coaching depot at Mangaluru Central, DRM added.