Indian Railways planned to replace the regular Toilets with Vacuum Toilets. The railways launched the trial run of vacuum toilet in Dibrugarh Rajdhani from Monday, September 14 at an estimated cost of Rs 3 Lakh. The idea of vacuum or waterless toilets in the Indian Railways was conceived by Union Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu, who announced the same in the Union Budget for this year 2015. Vacuum toilets are currently used in aircrafts. In the train toilets, the excreta is sucked out with the use of minimum water (0.5 to 1.5 litres).
These eco-friendly vacuum toilets consume much less water as compared to the normal toilets used in the trains. These type toilets will also help to prevent corrosion of rail tracks, as there is no discharge takes place on the tracks.
According to senior Railway Ministry official, multinational companies from Germany, USA, Denmark and Spain have shown interest in manufacturing and installing these toilets. The plan is that 80 such toilets will be installed initially on a Shatabdi Express train. One toilet will also be installed at New Delhi railway station.
People who are travel by air, and then they must know about the vacuum toilets. Well, now the Indian Railways is also keen to incorporate the vacuum toilets. Earlier, we had told about Japan modernizing Indian Railways. And now, this!
How does vacuum toilet work?
The Vacuumarator pump generates vacuum directly in the piping system. The entire piping system is kept at a constant vacuum level, normally between 35% and 50% in a Constant Vacuum System.
1.When the toilet is flush, a valve in the toilet mechanism opens. Air and about 1 litter (1/4 gal.) is sucked into the piping which helps in taking the waste out successfully.
2. The liquid waste forms a “slug” which carried along with great speed through the pipes, as it is pushed inwards by the outside air. This happens because the air pressure is lower inside the piping than in the room outside (vacuum), and has several benefits – one of which is to allow piping to be laid upwards. The “slug” levels out after a while.
3. In the piping systems and where pipes are to be laid upwards, we collect water in low points in the piping to form new “slugs” as the liquid carried through the piping and then discharged to the collection. These low points are called transport pockets.
4) Inside the pump, toilet waste is ground into tiny particles and discharged to a public sewer, collecting tank or treatment plant.
There are many Advantages by using this Vacuum Toilets: Since it uses air, then their is large water saving. No deposits in the toilet, reduced use of detergents, Odour-free, Facilitates reuse of urine and faeces and bacteria are removed and literally sucked out of the toilet.
Indian Railways will soon replace the regular Toilets with Vacuum Toilets. With the help of Japan’s, Indian Railways is ready for the new look.