New Delhi, Feb 25 (IANS): Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Thursday announced that the Indian Railways will provide 17,000 bio-toilets on trains and additional toilets at 475 stations before the closure of the 2016-17 financial year.

"World's first bio-vacuum toilet developed by the Indian Railways is being used in Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express. Seventy four more trains have been added under on-board housekeeping services and another 400 are to be covered soon, leading to a total number of almost 1000 trains under the scheme," Prabhu said while presenting this year's railway budget in the Lok Sabha.

"In pursuance of our mission 'Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat', Indian Railways will provide 17,000 bio-toilets in trains and additional toilets at 475 stations before the closure of this financial year," he added.

"Railways has initiated the audit of operations in the busy Ghaziabad to Mughalsarai section that is impacting the overall punctuality of the entire network. Some improvement is already visible and capacity augmentation in the medium term will further reduce the delays," the minister added.