Cleanliness of Toilets and Wash Rooms in Railways

(Judicial Quest News Service)

Maintenance of cleanliness of toilets and wash rooms of trains and station areas is a continuous process and all efforts are being made to improve their condition and cleanliness.

Some of the major initiatives taken by Indian Railways towards improvement in condition and cleanliness of toilets in trains and at Railway stations are as follows:

1. Cleaning of coaches including toilets of trains is done at both ends including mechanized cleaning.

However, upgradation of amenities at stations including toilets is a continuous and on-going process and 2894 toilets were constructed / improved in the past four years, and further, construction / improvement works in this regard are being undertaken depending upon need, volume of the passenger traffic and priority subject to availability of funds.

1. Operation of public toilets, both deluxe and normal, with ladies and gents units, is also being done through Public Private Partnership (PPP) model on ‘Pay and Use’ basis. Zonal Railways have been authorized regarding operation and maintenance, including cleanliness of these ‘Pay and Use’ toilets through contracts.

Complaints/Grievances are registered under the heads ‘Cleanliness at Stations’ and ‘Cleanliness in Coaches’ which include cleanliness of toilets.

Railways had conducted last third party survey regarding cleanliness at 407 major Railway Stations in the country including cleanliness of toilets in 2018. A third party train cleanliness survey on 209 pairs of trains was also carried out in 2018 to assess the Swachhata parameters of the running trains including cleanliness of toilets.           

The details of these surveys are available under –

Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat – 2018 – Train Cleanliness Survey, and Station Cleanliness Ranking Report – 2018 on Indian Railways website at http://www.indianrailways.gov.in ->Ministry of Railways -> Railway Board -> About Indian Railways -> Corporate Overview -> Directorates -> Environment Management.

These Reports have been shared with zonal railways for necessary improvements. Production Units (PUs) have been advised to fit vacuum assisted flushing system along with Bio – toilets in all newly manufactured Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) AC coaches.

Vacuum flushing system toilet substantially reduces the requirement of water for flushing, while ensuring effective / proper flushing of faecal matter from the pans. Hence, it ensures proper flushing with less water.

This information was given by the Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.