BIO-TOILET

PROJECT OF
INDIAN RAILWAYS
INDIAN RAILWAYS
Indian Railways (IR) is
a governmental entity under
the Ministry of Railways that operates
India's national railway system. It is
run by the government as a public
good and manages the third-largest
network by size, with a route length
of 68,155 km (42,350 mi) as of
March 2019. 40,576 km (25,213 mi)
or 64% of all the broad-gauge routes
are electrified with 25kV 50 Hz AC
electric traction as of August 2020.
INTODUCTION
As per the commitment to supreme court, Indian Railways in
association with IR-DRDO developed a anaerobic bio-toilet tailor
made to Indian railway passenger coaches in March2010 by forming a
joint working group consisting of IR Engineers and DRDO
biotechnologists.
BIO-TOILET (BIO-
DIGESTER TOILET)
• Biological decomposition of • A Bio-Toilet is a complete
Human waste. waste management solution
which reduces solid human
• Bio-Toilet is an innovative waste to Biogas and pure water,
technology for disposal of solid with the help of a bacterial
human waste in an ecofriendly, Inoculum.
economical and hygienic
manner.
OBJECTIVES OF BIO-
TOILETS
• Environment friendly.
• Preventing damages to tracks due to corrosion.
• Improved aesthetic at Railway stations.
• Require less maintenance.
• Simple in design.
• Easier Retro fitment on existing coaches in service.
• Can be in operation up to years together.
WORKING OF BIOLOGICAL
TOILET SYSTEM
HUMAN WASTE
CO2 + METHANE
ANAEROBIC GASES RELEASED
BACTERIA TO
ATMOSPHERE
LIQUID WASTE

CHLORINATION

DISINFECTED
LIQUID
DISCHARGED TO
TRACK
EXTRACT OF BUDGET SPEECH
OF 2016-17 OF HON’BLE
MINISTER OF RAILWAYS ON
CLEANLINESS
In pursuance of our mission Swachh Rail – Swachh Bharat,
 17,000 bio-toilets in trains and additional toilet at 475 stations will be
provided before the close of this financial year.
 World’s first Bio-Vacuum toilet was developed by IR and is being used in
Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express.
 74 more trains have been added under on-board Housekeeping Service and
another 400 are to be covered soon, leading to a total number of almost 1000
trains under the scheme.
BUDGET OF THE PROJECT

As of May 31,2019, 136,965 bio-toilets have

been fitted in 37,411 coaches, at a cost of
around Rs 100,000 per toilet, according to
railway ministry officials quoted by the PTI.
This brings the expenditure to about Rs 13.7
billion.
DEVELOPMENT
• The West Central Railway became the first zone in the country to install bio-toilets in
all passenger trains running under it. Thus, passengers will not have to face problems
due to stinky, unhygienic toilets while travelling.
• Indian Railways has installed over 2.4 lakh bio-toilets in train coaches.
• The total number of Indian Railways train coaches that are equipped with bio-toilets
is 68,690.
• In January 2020, train number 12005 Kalka-Delhi Shatabdi Express became the first
fully operational in-service train in Northern Railway zone to be equipped with flight-
style retrofitted bio-vacuum toilets.
• The national transporter is embarking on converting bio-toilets into bio-vacuum
toilets in coaches to save water.
• The railways’ve developed a new technology for bio-vacuum, in collaboration with
research arm of the Railway Ministry, Research Designs and Standards
Organisation(RDSO). Bio-vacuum toilets save a lot of water. These toilets’ve a
suction pump that reduces the requirement of water. Most vacuum systems flush with
half a gallon (2 litre) of fluid or less compared to bio-toilets, which require up to
15L/flush.
ADVANTAGES OF BIO-
TOILET
• No bad smell in toilets from the tanks.
• Fecal matter in the tank not visible.
• Effluent is free from off odour and solid waste.
• Reduction in harmful organic matter by 90%.
• No requirement of adding bacteria.
• No need of removal of solid waste
 THE TECHNOLOGY–AND
THE CRITICISM
• Highest number of problems/ defects (41,111) found
at Bengaluru coaching depot, followed by
Gorakhpur (24,495) and Wadi Bunder (22,521).

The CAG found • Complaints per bio-toilet were highest at the

199,689 defects in Bengaluru coaching deport (98), followed by Wadi
25,000 toilets. Some Bunder (32), Rameshwaram (28) and Gwalior (17);
major issues were: • Of the 102,792 instances of choking, 10,098 (10%)
cases reported in March 2017.
• Of the 102,792 cases of choking in 25,080 bio-
toilets, the highest (34%) were reported from
Bengaluru. This implied that one bio-toilet got
choked 83 times a year.
• Choking incidents have risen from 2015-16: One
bio-toilet got choked four times a year during 2016-
17.
PUBLIC AWARENESS
 Stickers in bio toilet coaches
 Audio clips being played at major stations and video clips for
running on electronic media.
 Press conference to be organized for print and electronic media.
 An awareness Short film.