CURRENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

In recent years, Indian Railways has undertaken several initiatives to upgrade its ageing infrastructure and enhance its quality of service. The Indian government plans to invest ₹905,000 crore (US$134 billion) to upgrade the railways by 2020. Indian Railways is refurbishing 12-15 year old coaches at Carriage Rehabilitation Workshop in Bhopal to enhance passenger amenities and fire safety measures.

Bio-Toilets on railways

The bio-toilets, which have been developed by the railways and the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), have a colony of anaerobic bacteria, kept in a container under the lavatories that convert human waste into water and small amounts of gases. The gases are released into the atmosphere and the water is discharged after chlorination on to the track. The railways currently uses flush toilets in trains, in which human waste is dumped directly on the track. This makes the environment unhygienic and railway stations an eyesore, apart from the fact that the faecal matter corrodes the tracks.

Southern Railways officials say that except for the first- and two-tier AC coaches of Uzhavan Express, the remaining 34 coaches have been fitted with bio-toilets. "These toilets aim at zero defecation on the ground," says Vinay Srivastava, former director-in-charge of the bio-toilet project who is currently working as director, Ministry of Environment and Forests.

More bio-toilets have been fitted into coaches this year than the total bio-toilets fitted in the last three years. According to an IR source, the number of bio-toilets fitted in passenger train coaches from April to July this year was 2,285, against 1,337 bio-toilets fitted during 2012-13, 169 during 2011-12, and 57 during 2010-11.

Locomotive factories

In 2015, plans were disclosed for building two locomotive factories in the state of Bihar, at Madhepura (diesel locomotives) and at Marhowra (electric locomotives). Both factories involve foreign partnerships. The diesel locomotive works will be jointly operated in a partnership with General Electric, which has invested ₹2,052 crore (US$305 million) for its construction, and the electric locomotive works with Alstom, which has invested ₹1,293.57 crore (US$192 million). The factories will provide Indian Railways with 800 electric locomotives of 12,000 horse power each, and a mix of 1,000 diesel locomotives of 4,500 and 6,000 horsepower each. In November 2015, further details of the ₹14,656 crore(US$2 billion) partnership with GE were announced: Indian Railways and GE would engage in an 11-year joint venture in which GE would hold a majority stake of 74%. Under the terms of the joint venture, Indian Railways would purchase 100 goods locomotives a year for 10 years beginning in 2017; the locomotives would be modified versions of the GE Evolution series. The diesel locomotive works will be built by 2018; GE will import the first 100 locomotives and manufacture the remaining 900 in India from 2019, also assuming responsibility for their maintenance over a 13-year period. In the same month, a ₹20,000 crore (US$3 billion) partnership with Alstom to supply 800 electric locomotives from 2018 to 2028 was announced.