Going Dutch Takes On New Meaning

[Lucky]

The need to pee when there is no toilet is a human condition known to almost everyone. Leave it to the Dutch to find a way to unplug the leak:

AMSTERDAM (AP) — The Dutch national railway has an unusual solution for passengers who need the bathroom on a train line designed without them: plastic bags.

The rail operator underlined that the bags, introduced Friday, are for use in emergencies only, when a train has stopped and passengers can't be evacuated. The idea has been met with incredulity by politicians and the general public already unhappy with the short-haul "Sprinter" trains' bathroomless design.

NS spokesman Eric Trinthamer confirmed Friday the "pee-bag" plan is not a joke. The bags are kept out of sight in the conductor's booth.

The bags have a cup-shaped plastic top and contain a highly absorbent material that turns urine into a gel-like mixture. After use the bags can be sealed and thrown in the trash.

[Guest Anton]

LOL, I love the story.

I found a bit of additional information on :

http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2011/10/07/ns-introduceert-plaszak-voor-hoge-nood-in-sprinter/

It's in Dutch, but the translation is:

Dutch National Railroad introduces pee bags in sprinter trains in case of high need

Trains without toilets will soon be equipped with pee bags for people with high needs. Passengers can use these in an empty cabin of the operator. NS thinks this is the solution for the sprinter trains without toilets.

A spokesman of the railroad said this morning in "De Telegraaf" that the bags are intended only for "extreme emergency". This could be a train stranded in bad weather.

Earlier the NS had been criticized because the new sprinter trains had no lavatories. In March this year, the issue came in the news as Secretary of State of Infrastructure Schultz van Haegen had decided that 131 new sprinter trains would not be equipped with a toilet. The Secretary of State found the cost of installing the toilets, some ninety million euro, too expensive.

The House adopted a motion in December in which the Secretary of State was called to place toilets in the trains. Unions, staff associations of the Railroads and passengers had already been asking this. The NS had agreed to do something about the toilet matter. In the meanwhile, the pee bags must offer relief.

LOL, as airlines are constantly cutting down on their expenses, let's not hope that they adopt the idea. I can already hear the part of the security demonstration being changed into: "Please find your pee bag next to your life vest underneath your seat."

Sincerely, Anton.

[RA1]

Are there bars or drinks offered or allowed on these trains? There is a parallel in smaller "cabin class" General Aviation aircraft. The entry level version of on board "facilities" is a potty seat on top of a "box" which has a plastic bag in it. The "door" for privacy is usually a curtain. Most flights don't last more than 3-4 hours (usually less) but, with the option of drinks being available, if you have to go, you go in the facility provided.

The next step up is a so called flushing potty which has a holding tank + pump + a chemical. This is very similar to what you might have seen or used with camping toilets. Both of these style toilets are dealt with by someone at whatever airport is one of the destinations. In other words, someone takes the tank or bag and disposes of it, hopefully in a hygienic manner.

The next step up is a remote holding tank with flushing potty that is cleaned in the same manner as airline sized equipment and that is a truck that puts the waste into the truck tank via a large hose and replenishes the chemicals.

On many aircraft there is a "relief tube" which has a funnel on one end and a venturi tube on the other. Generally only used by men, the liquid is sucked through the tube by the venturi effect and atomized into the air. I have never seen any result of this procedure on the surface of the aircraft and I firmly believe that the atomized liquid just becomes part of nature and never hits the ground in its' original form. I think there would be complaints if otherwise.

Best regards,

RA1

[Guest Anton]

Hi RA1,

Are there bars or drinks offered or allowed on these trains?

Here's a bit of additional information. The Sprinter trains are most often used on lines where the train stations are on short distance of each other. As there's only short distance between the train stops, passengers in "high need" may choose to get out at the next train station and "get relief" there. The next train will take a maximum of half an hour to arrive. On most lines I think it's even as less as fifteen minutes.

As the trains have to stop often, they are designed to accellerate really fast and to stop just as fast. As they have to stop often, when stopping the electrical motors use the speed of the train to transform it back into electricity and deliver it back to the net (of course the motors then function as generators).

Okay, that was a bit of general information. To answer your question, there are no bars or drinks offered in the Sprinter train, but of course everybody's free to take his own drinks.

Bars is something you only find in international trains, not in domestic trains. Drinks offered is something you do see in domestic trains, but then only in the intercity trains. Then there's a steward with a carriage that passes by with all sort of drinks and snacks you can buy. That compares a bit to the way drinks served in an airplane. The intercity trains are the ones that skip the smaller train stations and only stop at the major train stations. Intercity trains however have toilets in every carriage.

I hope this answers.

Sincerely, Anton.