Swachh Rail, Swachh Bharat (Clean Railways, Clean India): Adoption of Bio-Toilets by the Indian Railways

The case describes a complex problem faced by the Indian Railways (IR), a more than 150-year-old public sector enterprise, in India. During the summer of 2009, IR was under tremendous public pressure to address the problems of its age-old toilet disposal system. The train toilet problem was complicated as it touched on all three dimensions of sustainability: social, environmental and economic. After examining a few technological options, Sanjeev Kishore, the Executive Director of Mechanical Engineering of the Ministry of Railways, had to decide whether to choose the most suitable solution from among the ready-to-use options available, or adopt a grounded approach to designing an alternative bio-toilets solution, using the Defense Research and Development Organization's (DRDO) inoculum bacteria. The search for a solution led to a collaboration between IR and DRDO that gave birth to a customized bio-toilet design. After successfully testing a prototype, the IR team implemented 245,775 bio-toilets in 68,694 coaches over a 10-year period. Students are encouraged to use their critical thinking and decision-making skills to address the business situation.

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