Emergency toilet power/gravity feeding

[Egg Centric]

One thing I've noticed in quite a few RAIB reports is that for whatever safety related reason the power has to be shut off (or has failed) and then the passengers are are without toilets for several hours. For example at East Langton where due to a hole in the fuel tank in the Meridian they had to turn all the engines off while having no evacuation happening any time soon.

This seems eminently solvable to me and at little cost (in purpose designed stock where this is thought about in advance) - either by a gravity fed system which would be fine to eliminate onto track imo in these circumstances as would providing a hand pump - or if it has to be electrically powered a backup dedicated battery supply.

Back in the day of course, mk1s just had a roof fed simple system and we had this by default, so it's crazy that we've lost it over time without much of a fuss being made.

 

[Ken H]

An emergency mode for toilets is vital. Many people have a very real need for a toilet they can use NOW.
How a train with no working toilet passes disability regs i really dont know.

The train offering is way worse than car where i can stop at a public loo or even use a hedge.

 

[Dr Hoo]

The traditional gravity model relied on using a lot more water than the modern ‘vacuum’ style. A material issue for tank size and weight, which has been ruthlessly designed down in current builds.

 

[Egg Centric]

The traditional gravity model relied on using a lot more water than the modern ‘vacuum’ style. A material issue for tank size and weight, which has been ruthlessly designed down in current builds.

That might be a reason making it hard to fix retrospectively, but I don't see why it need be an issue in future trains. Given the amount of design sacrifice in having disabled toilets in the first place, this would be piddling (hehe)

 

[Crithylum]

Adding more backup batteries is more sensible than enlarging the tanks and adding a new mode of operation that will only occasionally be used.