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How Railways Can Save Rs350 Cr Annually, Pune Boy Reveals

  • The recent railway budget revealed that corrosion from night soil being discharged from toilets on tracks cost the Indian Railways a whopping Rs350 crore annually.

  • A 23-year-old lad from Pune has claimed that his specially-designed toilets will not only help save this money, but will also prove to be a source of income for the railways.

  • Rameez Mubarak Attar, a final-year student of dentistry and innovator, has developed the railway container sewage system using heat sanitisation. It is a special design in which water seal toilets would be used on trains. The structure is such that all the night soil would be collected in a container (1,373.796 litre) placed below the toilet seat where the waste will be treated with heat. This treated waste will be collected in a larger container (1,663.783 litre) placed under the train bogie. The waste matter can be dumped mechanically after the train reaches its destination.

  • “This concept, if used, will not only prevent corrosion of railway tracks, but will also save around 1.5 lakh litre of water that is used for cleaning the railway tracks. It will also reduce human contact with faecal matter, as everything will be mechanised. The collected waste matter can be converted into manure and can be used on farmlands, thereby serving as a source of income for the railways,” explained the inventor of the model.

  • Passengers travelling on long-distance trains will get respite from the stench of toilets and the railways can also earn a handsome revenue. Unlike traditional toilets in trains where the waste is discharged on tracks, the new system will treat it inside a tank with the help of thermal plates that will kill pathogenic bacteria to prevent infections and convert it into manure for agricultural purposes.

  • “There is an urgent need to replace the hopper toilets with water seal toilets for a cleaner hygienic railway ecosystem,” said Dr Rajeev Saxena, supporter of this project.

  • The cost of water seal toilets is much lesser than green toilets, which cost about Rs1 lakh per piece. Attar said a bogie needs two toilets which can be installed at Rs30,000.

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