The North Western Railway has declared the Barmer-Munawab and Pipad Road-Bilara rail routes in Rajasthan as Green Corridors.
With this total number of green corridors has increased to five. The 114-km-long Manamadurai– Rameswaram stretch of Southern Railway was India’s first ‘Green corridor’. Okha-Kanalus and Porbandar-Wasjaliya railway sections of Gujarat also have been declared green corridors.
What is green corridor?
The Green Corridor ensures zero toilet discharge on rail tracks as part of its commitment to clean environment under the ‘Swachh Rail-Swachh Bharat’ initiative. Trains in the section have been equipped with bio-toilets to ensure zero discharge of human waste on the rail tracks and preventing corrosion of the tracks.
About Bio toilets
- Indian Railway had developed the environment friendly ‘Bio-toilets’, in association with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
- Bio-toilets evacuate discharge into a biodigester tank, containing anaerobic bacteria, fitted underneath the train coach in a small space.
- The bacteria convert human faecal matter into water and small amount of gases (including methane) by process of hydrolysis, acetogenesis, acidogenesis and methanogenesis.
- Indian railways aims to install human waste discharge free bio-toilets in all its coaches as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission by September 2019.