Indian Railways rolls out waterless urinals for pilots of India’s most powerful locomotives

Indian Railways rolls out waterless urinals for pilots of India's most powerful locomotives Prototype has been in operation for around 4 months now.

Key points

• In 2015, the MELPL was awarded the contract to manufacture and supply 800 locomotives by March 2028.
• Dheeraj Mishra is a Principal Correspondent with the Business Bureau of The Indian Express.
• Now, India's most powerful 12000-horsepower locomotives promise to change that: These will come fitted with waterless urinals for train drivers.
• The MELPL is a joint venture between Indian Railways and French major Alstom, with Alstom holding a 74% majority stake.
• The firm supplied its 650th locomotive to the Railways on August 15.

For context, the new locomotive from the Madhepura Electric Locomotive factory in Bihar will have an inbuilt urinal. It will be retrofitted for the ones that have been rolled out. (Express photo by Dheeraj Mishra).

In practice, the lack of a urinal or toilet in locomotives is one of the biggest operational challenges for the country's loco pilots. This challenge has become even more pronounced given that the Railways is inducting women as loco pilots.

Now, India's most powerful 12000-horsepower locomotives promise to change that: These will come fitted with waterless urinals for train drivers. Discussions with the Railways are at an advanced stage for incorporating these urinals, a senior official of the Madhepura Electric Locomotive Private Limited (MELPL) remarked.

Meanwhile, the MELPL is a joint venture between Indian Railways and French major Alstom, with Alstom holding a 74% majority stake. It manufactures 12, 000 HP electric locomotives in Bihar's Madhepura to carry heavy load on the dedicated freight corridors.

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Vivek Garg, Managing Director, MELPL, informed The Indian Express that the business has rolled out a prototype after retrofitting a waterless urinal and it has been in operation for around 4 months. The unavailability of a urinal or toilet in locomotives is one of the biggest challenges that a loco pilot faces. "This becomes even more significant that now Indian Railways additionally have lady loco pilots. The original specifications of this locomotive pressed a space to be kept but there was no requirement to integrate a waterless urinal. In practice, the discussion with Indian Railways is at an advanced stage and they want to integrate waterless urinals in all the locomotives that we are building. The prototype is performing well, " Garg remarked.

Meanwhile, the new locomotive from the Madhepura factory, he remarked, will have an inbuilt urinal and it will be retrofitted for the ones which have been rolled out.

Notably, the firm supplied its 650th locomotive to the Railways on August 15. The first 12000 HP locomotive manufactured at the Madhepura facility was put into operation from Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay junction on May 18, 2020. It has a design speed of 120 kmph and can carry 6, 000 tonnes of freight.

In 2015, the MELPL was awarded the contract to manufacture and supply 800 locomotives by March 2028. The initial cost of the project was Rs 28, 000 crore. It was revised to over Rs 33, 000 crore. With this project, India became the sixth country in the world to manufacture 12000 HP electric locomotives.

Asked why it had not been done so far and whether it was due to a technical matter or lack of decision making, Garg stated, "I would not say that there is a technical matter or a lack of decision making over here. Integrating a waterless urinal into a locomotive additionally has its own challenges. For example, it has a safety aspect. When a train or locomotive is moving, you would not like the driver to leave the desk and utilise a waterless urinal, unlike a plane. When it is stationary at some location, only then a driver should be using the urinal."

He remarked waterless urinals additionally require a rethink of water supply and design and this is an area which is evolving over a period of time.

When such systems were not widely available or integrated into locomotive products, "The specifications of this locomotive were framed around 2014-15. I think the Indian industry has matured, and waterless urinals are available now. We have been flexible and open to upgrading locomotives as technology evolves, and that is what we are doing today, " he remarked.

Meanwhile, the initiative is additionally part of India Railways' push to provide waterless urinals in all electric locomotives in a phased manner as per feasibility. As of February 2026, more than 2800 locomotives have been provided with urinals. © The Indian Express Pvt Ltd, according to the Railways.

Dheeraj Mishra is a Principal Correspondent with the Business Bureau of The Indian Express. He plays a critical role in covering India's massive infrastructure sectors, providing in-depth reporting on the connectivity lifelines of the nation. Expertise & Focus Areas: Mishra's journalism is focused on two of the country's most capital-intensive and public-facing ministries: Ministry of Railways: Tracking the operations, safety, and development of India's vast railway network. Ministry of Road Transport & Highways: Covering policy decisions, infrastructure projects, and highway development. What sets Mishra apart is his rigorous employ of the Right to Information (RTI) Actas a primary tool for news gathering. By relying on official data and administration records, he ensures a high degree of accuracy and trustworthiness in his reporting. This data-driven approach has resulted in numerous impactful reports that hold public institutions accountable and bring transparency to administration operations. Find all stories by Dheeraj Mishra here.

Taken together, the developments around indian Railways rolls out waterless urinals for pilots of India's most powerful point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.