India’s first ‘Green corridor’ inaugurated

Manamadurai-Rameswaram train coaches get bio-toilets

ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY:Divisional Railway Manager (Madurai) Sunil Kumar Garg, Tamil Nadu Minister for Information Technology M. Manikandan and others in front of Madurai-Rameswaram passenger train which reached Rameswaram, passing through Manamadurai-Rameswaram Green Corridor, on Sunday.— Photo: L. Balachandar

The 114-km-long Manamadurai– Rameswaram stretch of Southern Railway became India’s first ‘Green corridor’ on Sunday after Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu dedicated the section through videoconferencing from Chennai Central Station.

After the Minister dedicated the section as part of Indian Railway’s commitment to clean environment, Divisional Railway Manager (Madurai) Sunil Kumar Garg unveiled a plaque, marking the dedication, at a simple function here.

Tamil Nadu Minister for Information Technology M. Manikandan and Senior Mechanical Divisional Engineer Jay Prakash were present.

About 150 coaches in 13 pairs of express and passenger trains, running in the section, would have bio-toilets and there would be zero discharge of human waste on tracks in the section. Rameswaram railway station, which handled the trains, had already been developed as a ‘Green Station’ to handle the bio-toilets in the coaches.

To ensure proper working of the bio-toilets, Southern Railway had established a bio-lab at the coaching depot, which handled the coaches, in September last year for testing the discharge. Indian Railway had developed the environment friendly ‘IR-DRDO Bio-toilets’, in association with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Regenerative type anaerobic bacteria in liquid form was poured into the six-chamber retention tanks in the bio-toilets and the bacteria helped in disintegrating human waste into liquid and gas, Mr. Garg said. The liquid would be chlorinated and discharged with no harm to the environment. The bio-lab had facilities to test total solids, total dissolved solids and total volatile solids.

Later, accompanied by the Minister, Rameswaram Municipal Chairman A. Archunan and senior officials, Mr. Garg inspected the lab and other facilities at the railway station.

A few minutes before the dedication ceremony, Maduri-Rameswaram passenger train, fitted with bio-toilets, arrived at the station, with a banner announcing the dedication of the section tied in the front of the locomotive and decorated with plantain trees.