Bengaluru: A road-cum-rail vehicle equipped with dry and wet suction systems, air and water spraying nozzles, and a control system, has been developed by The National Institute of Technical Teachers' Training and Research, Bhopal. 

It is called 'Multifunctional Railway Track Scavenging Vehicle', the Department of Science and Technology said on Monday. 

To make it more simple, a display unit provides a real-time control of the cleaning under drastically changing environment. 

It requires only one person along with a driver to carry out the automatic cleaning of the railway track, it said.

"Once the dry and wet suction is over, the water nozzles start spraying water jets to clear any human waste or semi-solid garbage present on the track floor," the Department of Science and Technology (DST) revealed. 

Another set of nozzles spray disinfectants on the track to get rid of flies, rats and other insects. Water jets completely remove the human waste and other wet garbage from the inter rail space zone.

Once the cleaning is over on the tracks, it can also be used on roads. Moreover, it can also be used for the purpose of maintenance. 

What’s more heartening is that it can be used as a scavenging vehicle.  

The developed vehicle having low maintenance cost, compact size, reverse and forward movement, and continuous and intermittent action, makes it better and effective as compared to existing research endeavours, the statement stated.

The initiative has been supported by the Advanced Manufacturing Technologies programme of the DST. A national patent has also been published for this technology, it added.

(With inputs from PTI)