In December 2017, Indian Railways announced that all passenger trains would be equipped with environment friendly bio toilets by which target date?

Introduction / Context:

Indian Railways has been working to reduce open discharge from trains by installing bio toilets in passenger coaches. This question checks knowledge of an important policy announcement made in December 2017 about the target date by which all trains were planned to be fitted with bio toilets. Such questions are common in general awareness sections of competitive exams because they combine environmental policy with current affairs of that period.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• In December 2017, Indian Railways announced a plan related to bio toilets.
• The plan was to equip all passenger trains or coaches with bio toilets.
• The options list several possible target dates between 2018 and 2020.
• We assume the question refers to the official target date as reported in government and news sources at that time.

Concept / Approach:

The approach to this question is based on factual recall. The learner needs to remember the specific deadline announced by Indian Railways. Many environment and infrastructure related initiatives come with target years. For this one, the key is to recall that the ambitious goal was to complete the fitting of bio toilets in all coaches by the end of calendar year 2018, that is by December 2018, in order to support the national cleanliness and sanitation drive.

Step-by-Step Solution:

Verification / Alternative Check:

As an alternative verification, one can recall that many exam oriented magazines and government press releases of early 2018 highlighted that the rail network was planned to be fully equipped with bio toilets by December 2018. This date was associated with the broader national mission to improve sanitation standards on railway tracks. No other date among the options matches this widely reported target, which reinforces that December 2018 is correct.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

Option A, March 2018, is too early and would not have provided enough time to retrofit all coaches with bio toilets.

Option C, March 2019, appeared in some long term planning discussions but is not the target announced in December 2017 that advanced the goal to an earlier date.

Option D, December 2019, extends the timeline by one more year beyond the revised target, so it does not match the announcement asked in the question.

Option E, March 2020, is clearly beyond the announced schedule and therefore incorrect.

Common Pitfalls:

A common mistake is to confuse the original longer term target with the later, more ambitious revised target. Candidates may also mix this initiative with separate deadlines for other railway projects. Another pitfall is to focus only on the year and ignore whether the target was in March or December. Careful reading of exam preparation material from that time would highlight that the revised target date was at the end of December 2018.

Final Answer:

The correct target date announced by Indian Railways was December 2018.