Here's Why Indian Railways is Removing One Toilet Each From 40,000 Coaches

New Delhi: The Indian Railways has decided to remove one toilet each from close to 40,000 train coaches. The decision was taken to make space for food plates for passengers. Currently, the plates are kept near the toilet door, creating health and sanitation hazard.

This had been pointed out by a Comptroller and auditor general (CAG) report, which revealed serious lapses in hygiene.

According to the Railway’s plan, the toilets will be removed to set up a catering station in coaches. On June 13, the Indian Railways had started its ‘Mission Retro-Fitment’, which seeks to modernize old-style train coaches. There are around 40,000 such coaches, which will be redesigned over the next five years.

The latest move will mean that train coaches in India will have three, instead of four, toilets in them. The Indian Railways also uses around 5,000 modern coaches of German design, which already have catering stations. These coaches will continue to have four toilets each.

Till the 1970s, Indian Railways coaches used to have just two toilets each. The number was later increased to four toilets.