Indian Railways Joins Hands with TERI to Study Impact of bio-toilet

Indian Railways Joins Hands with TERI to Study Impact of bio-toilet

New Delhi: India is expected to have its High-Speed Train by 2022. Indian Railways is considering the year 2019 as the dawn of the new era of technology and customer satisfaction. Railways in India has been serving the nation now for over 150 years and now moving to the next level of its performance. Four major segments in innovation would be passengers, freight, production and environment and there will be all-round improvement in the services of Railways. This was disclosed by Shri Rajesh Agrawal, Member Rolling Stock, Railway Board and Ex-officio Secretary to Govt of India while inaugurating the Seminar on 'Powering India through Innovation and Technology in Railways' organized at Exporail India 2019- International Exhibition for Railway Technology, Equipment & Services.
 
India, having the fourth largest Rail network in the world has given the massive push to capacity augmentation by commissioning strategic projects like Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs), Shri Agrawal further added.
 
Induction and proliferation of new technologies have been decided for improved track inspection, maintenance and monitoring.
 
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General, TERI emphasized the need of innovative approach of the entire chain to provide better services and preserving the environment. Ok Innovative efforts in Railways must focus on what its customers want from them, he said.
 
Addressing the Seminar, Shri A K Tewari, Principal Executive Director, Environment and Housekeeping Management, Railway Board said that technology is the systematic application of scientific knowledge to a new product, process or service and product innovation is vital for competitive advantage. Bio Toilets, Clean-My-Coach SMS Services, Coach Mitra Initiatives for cleanliness in Trains and Railway stations have been taken as part of the Swachh Rail Mission, Shri Tewari added.
 
Shri Saurabh Sood, Country Head, GATX and Shri V K Raina, Editor, Rail Business also spoke on the occasion. Bio-toilets - Indian Railways joins hands with TERI to study the impact of bio-toilets
 
Indian Railways has taken up a project of Environmental Appraisal of Bio-toilets with TERI which will study the environmental impact of bio-toilets over the conventional toilets. Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General, TERI expressed his pleasure in joining hands with Indian Railways to study this environmental assessment study.
 
Traditionally, it has been a big challenge before Indian Railways to maintain sanitation in the trains, stations and the local habitat. Human waste had been directly discharged in the railroads creating non-aesthetic conditions along the track. Such discharge has also been resulting in corrosion of rails. To address the serious environmental issue, Indian Railways has taken up replacement of conventional toilets by bio-toilets and it is expected to provide bio-toilets in all the Trains in the country by June 2019, which will earn passengers’ satisfaction and happiness in their rail journey.
 
The environment-friendly, low cost and robust technology of bio-toilets is the first of its kind in Railway system in the world. In this system, the waste retention tanks are fitted below the coach floors to collect human waste.
 
Boosting ‘Make in India’ by indigenous manufacturing of Semi High Speed as per global standards: 
 
Vande Bharat Express 'Train 18'  - India's first semi-high speed train equipped with world-class passenger amenities, which will run between Delhi and Varanasi at a maximum speed of 160 kmph is expected to be dedicated to the nation on 15th Feb 2019. Additional 12 Vande Bharat Express trains are also planned to be introduced across the country by next year.
 
In the exporail, various dimensions of Indian Railway’s technical developments, construction capabilities, Research & Development, infrastructure development, safety, operations and allied fields of passengers’ paradise have been discussed at the Seminar.

Read Also : SJVN and THDC Organise interactive workshop for vigilance officers