Toilets in engines: Loco pilots relieved

​New Delhi: Finally, train drivers can heave a sigh of relief! After 163 years, Indian Railways have decided to put toilets in train engines.

Flagging off the first locomotive with air-conditioned vacuum toilet on Friday, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said, "It was a budget proposal to provide toilet facility for loco pilots which was implemented today.”

According to railway officials, the bio-toilets have been fitted with sensors and features. The doors of the toilets would open only when the train speed is zero and the locomotive pilots won’t be able to use it while the train is moving. When the locomotive pilot is inside the toilet, the engine brakes will not be released by any system.

“Definitely, I’m happy that my loco-pilots are getting toilet facility in rail engines. If my driver is happy, I know that train will be in safe hands,” said T Sreenivas, railway guard from Secunderabad.

It took years for the All India Railways Federation to press the Railway Board to provide this facility but all those efforts seemed futile until Pawan Bansal took over as the present railway minister. He realized that this demand was justified and essential.

It costs about Rs 17.5 lakh to provide the air-conditioned vacuum toilet with bio digester in the diesel locomotive. Railways will provide similar toilet facility in five more diesel locomotives in the current fiscal. The country has more than 9,000 locomotives and these will soon have this facility.