Kolkata, Aug 18 — After the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) flagged the presence of E. coli bacteria and other contaminants in drinking water samples collected from eight railway stations across the country in 2022–23 and 2023–24, Eastern Railway (ER) has said that things have improved since then.
Madhupur in Jharkhand was one of the stations where E. coli was found in drinking water.
“ER has always placed the safety, health, and convenience of its passengers at the forefront of its operations. Ensuring the availability of clean, safe, and reliable drinking water across all its stations remains a top priority. Day in and day out, continuous efforts are made to maintain strict quality standards so that every traveller and resident receives pristine, healthy water,” ER said in a statement.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw held review meetings after the CAG report was published and ordered the implementation of “Tank to Tap” centralised water filtration and monitoring systems across 20,000 locations.
Water to Madhupur station comes from the nearby Patroo River. A river boring system, powered by electric pumps, collects the water and transports it through a dedicated pipeline network straight to the Madhupur Filter House.
At the filter house, the water undergoes thorough purification through pressure filters, followed by regular dosing of bleaching powder for manual chlorination and regular alum dosing to minimise turbidity, ER said.
After the treatment, the water is distributed to Madhupur station, surrounding railway colonies, and key service buildings.
“To meet growing passenger needs, ER has continuously upgraded its infrastructure. While the station had four water coolers during 2023–24, it now has nine, all fully functional. Quality records available from the office of the Health Inspector of Madhupur confirmed that the water input quality was satisfactory during 2023–24,” the statement said.
“To build upon this baseline, major infrastructure overhauling was executed in 2024–25, which included overhauling the existing pressure filter and replacing the old damaged overhead tank with a new SMC-panelled tank at both the Madhupur filter house and the station,” it added.
The zonal railway has claimed that it carries out comprehensive maintenance measures, including thorough cleaning of all water coolers, disinfection, and chlorination of supply water, regularly, and has already sent a formal proposal to install auto-chlorinators at all possible locations in Madhupur.
“Quality assurance is maintained through strict multi-tier monitoring where residual chlorine testing is done at different points daily, bacteriological testing is conducted monthly by the Health Department, and chemical testing is performed by the Health Department periodically. Thanks to these rigorous safety measures, the latest water quality report results from April 2025 to July 2026 at Madhupur station are found to be completely satisfactory,” ER said.
“Providing safe, clean, and tested drinking water to our passengers is an essential part of our service commitment. Through continuous monitoring, infrastructural modernisation, and strict health checks at Madhupur station, Eastern Railway ensures that every traveller can rely on the highest standards of hygiene and comfort throughout their journey,” ER CPRO Shibram Majhi said.