I just read an article yesterday in the New Indian Express dated 01.05.10 about the plight of toilets in India’s trains:
http://epaper.expressbuzz.com/NE/NE/2010/05/01/INDEX.SHTML
Or you can read the article here:
http://expressbuzz.com/magazine/trail-of-danger/168755.html
Having sanitation in the front of my mind, for sometime now, the article provoked me to take a close look at the problem and do some calculations last night.
When the first Indian trial run of a train was conducted between Bombay and Thane in 1843, later formally inaugurated from Bori Bunder on the 16th April 1853 and when the first passenger train steamed out of Howrah station destined for Hooghly on 15th August, 1854, who would have foreseen that the Indian Railways would one day become the largest railway network in the world, under single management, to carry the most number of passengers in the world.
The quintessential feature of the Indian Railways is the way it has spread to every nook and corner of the country. Apart from being one of the world’s largest rail networks it is also very intricate. A close look at the rail statistics will leave you wondering how this gargantuan task has been carried on by the huge work force deployed by the Indian Railways. It is simply amazing and intriguing. Despite all the great work there is one area that needs the immediate attention of the Government and that is the plight of toilets in the Indian trains.
There has been a general apathy in the Indian psyche, as far as matters pertaining to sanitation in the country, and this attitude seems to have set in deep in the minds of the Rail Ministry too. There have been very little efforts to modernize the toilets of Indian trains. In India, 54% of the population defecate in the open and we top the global list. If you consider the way the Indian trains litter the tracks as open defecation the percentage would still go up. The percentage would still go up if you are to consider pilgrims visiting temples and shrines who have no other go other than defecating in the open. For instance the 30 lakh pilgrims visiting Sabarimala have to do it in the open.
It is a national shame. Let us start thinking.
When the original idea of dumping the feces on the tracks was conceived during the early ages of the railways it was thought that the sun would take care of the sterilisation part. I am looking at the dumping of fecal matter on the railway tracks as a national wastage of a valuable resource.
Let us see how it works.
There are a whopping 25 million (2.5 cr) people travelling on Indian trains daily. As suburban trains (4000) constitute nearly 45% the total number of trains (8700), we are left out with 3100 passenger trains and 1600 express trains. The need for toilets is most felt in these 4700 trains. Presuming that only 10% of the 25 million (2.5 cr) people would be using the facility for defecation, we have 2.5 million (25 lakh) users daily. That amounts to 438 tonnes of fecal matter being wasted on the tracks daily by the railways. By improvisation of the toilets in such a way that the entire fecal matter is collected at designated stations, we could not only use the material for biogas production but also increase the potential users to, maybe another 10% (the hesitant lot who do not use the present facility). That would leave 50 lakh potential users of toilets for defecation daily in trains.
Through a concerted effort to collect the fecal matter and by introducing modern toilets in the railways we would be able to generate 12,80,000 m3 of biogas in a year and convert this biogas into 25,60,000 kWhs of electricity in a year. A part of the electricity need of the electric traction system can be met through this method. It would be a potential way of making carbon credits for the railways. The heat energy which is also a product of this process can be sold out by the railways.
Biogas is not rocket science. We were once upon a time pioneers in biogas along with the Chinese. Today they are way ahead. The Germans and a few other European countries have the required expertise and we can seek their help in this matter.
It is time for the Indian Railways to look at two urgent areas:
One, to improvise all the toilets in the trains in such a way that the present hesitation and inhibition in using them by passengers is completely removed.
Two, in the process of modernising toilets in trains, let them not loose track of the potential use of the fecal material.
However big the investment is going to be, the social cost of the project and the carbon credits will pay good dividends to the railways.
P. Uday Shankar
Coimbatore.
When the original idea of dumping the feces on the tracks was conceived during the early ages of the railways it was thought that the sun would take care of the sterilisation part. I am looking at the dumping of fecal matter on the railway tracks as a national wastage of a valuable resource.
Let us see how it works.
There are a whopping 25 million (2.5 cr) people travelling on Indian trains daily. As suburban trains (4000) constitute nearly 45% the total number of trains (8700), we are left out with 3100 passenger trains and 1600 express trains. The need for toilets is most felt in these 4700 trains. Presuming that only 10% of the 25 million (2.5 cr) people would be using the facility for defecation, we have 2.5 million (25 lakh) users daily. That amounts to 438 tonnes of fecal matter being wasted on the tracks daily by the railways. By improvisation of the toilets in such a way that the entire fecal matter is collected at designated stations, we could not only use the material for biogas production but also increase the potential users to, maybe another 10% (the hesitant lot who do not use the present facility). That would leave 50 lakh potential users of toilets for defecation daily in trains.
Through a concerted effort to collect the fecal matter and by introducing modern toilets in the railways we would be able to generate 12,80,000 m3 of biogas in a year and convert this biogas into 25,60,000 kWhs of electricity in a year. A part of the electricity need of the electric traction system can be met through this method. It would be a potential way of making carbon credits for the railways. The heat energy which is also a product of this process can be sold out by the railways.
Biogas is not rocket science. We were once upon a time pioneers in biogas along with the Chinese. Today they are way ahead. The Germans and a few other European countries have the required expertise and we can seek their help in this matter.
It is time for the Indian Railways to look at two urgent areas:
One, to improvise all the toilets in the trains in such a way that the present hesitation and inhibition in using them by passengers is completely removed.
Two, in the process of modernising toilets in trains, let them not loose track of the potential use of the fecal material.
However big the investment is going to be, the social cost of the project and the carbon credits will pay good dividends to the railways.
P. Uday Shankar
Coimbatore.
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