India's first green rail corridor launched in Tamil Nadu

The nation's first Green Rail Corridor, a 114-km long Rameswaram-Manamadurai stretch in Tamil Nadu which ensures zero toilet discharge on rail tracks, was inaugurated yesterday by Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu. Trains in the section have been equipped with bio-toilets ensuring zero discharge of human waste on the rail tracks. Inaugurating the corridor, Mr Prabhu said his ministry was committed to converting all toilets in railways to bio-toilets. He said till March 2016, a total of 35,104 bio-toilets had been provided and since then till last week 7,000 more new bio-toilets have been made operational. Mr Prabhu said the Railways has set a target to provide 30,000 new bio-toilets during 2016-17. He said before end of March next year, the Jammu-Katra section will also be human waste free. He also inaugurated high speed upgraded Wi-Fi facility, set up in association with Google, at Chennai Central Railway Station and a similar facility at Tiruchirappalli through video conferencing. The Wi-Fi amenities were part of the digital India plan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said.