Tomatoes growing on the track, due to....well read this

[tra1nsp0tter]

I don't know if this has already been discussed on here, but if it has, moderators please delete this.

Today, I opened my paper & seen this report/article....
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/trains-dump-much-human-waste-4446061

I had to double check that it wasn't the 1st of April today...

But on a serious note, I didn't know that the dumping (no pun intended..) of the onboard toilets still happened in 2014, at least in the UK anyway. Quite horrible tbh.

Also, apologies for not doing the link as it should be, I genuinely have no idea how to do that...

 

[SPADTrap]

The http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/ article,

THE tasty-looking tomatoes conceal a disgusting secret - they are growing because of human excrement dumped from trains on to railway tracks.

FORGET leaves on the railway line … there are now tomatoes on the tracks.

But the tasty-looking toms conceal a disgusting secret – they are growing because of human excrement dumped from trains.

And rail workers are furious they are exposed to the filth.

The tomatoes were spotted at Romford in Essex on the line between Southend and London.

One worker said: “It just shows what a s*** line it is with these tomatoes thriving on fertiliser from the trains.”

The RMT rail union said it highlighted a serious problem as track workers are exposed to raw sewage and can get splattered by toilet waste as it is dumped by trains.

General secretary Mick Cash said yesterday: “It shames Britain’s railways that tons of human excrement is being dumped straight on the tracks while the private train companies make huge profits and the Government does nothing.”

Most modern trains are fitted with toilet tanks which are pumped out at depots.

However, older rolling stock does not have the tanks and ministers admit it could take years to eradicate the problem.

 

[455driver]

In other news, bears still sh#t in the woods!

We still operate trains built in the 1970s and 1980s so why wouldnt they still dump on the tracks?
The only way it will stop is if these trains are rebuilt with retention tanks or new trains are rebuilt to replace them, both cost a lot of money which the government is not willing to spend.
Lets not pretend it is the TOCs decision, because they dont own the trains or its the leasing companies decision because it is the government that decides who gets what stock and it is the government that picks up the tab oops I mean subsidy, so it is the government that controls the costs and therefore any refurbishment!

Edit-
Does anyone know how to grow tomatoes without using sh#t, or as it is commonly known, fertiliser?

 

[Ploughman]

Even worse conditions on preserved lines due to the lower speeds.
Speed required to break down the solids to smaller sizes.

I believe that there was a film done by one of the big 4 companies looking into where the particles got to.
I think that this was done by tipping whitewash down the pan.
The film and report have never been released AFAIK.

 

[Howardh]

Thanks, chaps *he says eating a fried bacon and tomato sandwich for his tea*

 

[83G/84D]

A tomato plant was growing on the up line at Par station a couple of weeks ago.When people are working or walking on the line and an older train which does have retention tanks passes on an adjacent line staff turn their backs on it in case they get splattered with anything!

 

[Cherry_Picker]

People will be nostalgic for the days when you could see a turd in the four foot in a few years when all trains have retention tanks fitted.

 

[DarloRich]

The brown cloud! Is this really a shock?

 

[3141]

But which of the trains running between London and Southend have toilets?

On the Great Eastern line it's mostly class 321. Do they have toilets? As they were built from 1988 onwards you'd expect any toilets to have retention tanks.

The report says the tomato plants were seen at Romford. Do the mark 3s on the Norwich services not have retention tanks? If not, excrement might be dumped from them, but why particularly at Romford?

Or is this just a tomato plant, and someone has jumped to hysterical conclusions?

 

[Antman]

I don't know if this has already been discussed on here, but if it has, moderators please delete this.

Today, I opened my paper & seen this report/article....
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/trains-dump-much-human-waste-4446061

I had to double check that it wasn't the 1st of April today...

But on a serious note, I didn't know that the dumping (no pun intended..) of the onboard toilets still happened in 2014, at least in the UK anyway. Quite horrible tbh.

Also, apologies for not doing the link as it should be, I genuinely have no idea how to do that...

I would have thought that there would be some H&S law against it by now if only for the sake of track workers, I don't know how difficult it would be to modify old rolling stock

 

[dk1]

I would have thought that there would be some H&S law against it by now if only for the sake of track workers, I don't know how difficult it would be to modify old rolling stock

Very difficult & very expensive. Been going on for 150+ years so nothing new. The MK3s on AGA are about to be done but you have to lose 1 toilet per vehicle due to underfloor equipment/space. It is also costing £millions to adapt depots.

 

[47802]

Is not this a bit of a non story with all the new stock in the pipeline and the probability that older stock retained long term will get modified in the next few years.

 

[dk1]

Is not this a bit of a non story with all the new stock in the pipeline and the probability that older stock retained long term will get modified in the next few years.

Here here!!

 

[Class 170101]

On the Great Eastern line it's mostly class 321. Do they have toilets? As they were built from 1988 onwards you'd expect any toilets to have retention tanks.

Toilets yes but retention tanks no. Apparently they can't be that difficult to fit though. The 321s on TSGN I believe have them fitted.

 

[Mugby]

This is nothing new at all.

There were tomatoes growing between the tracks in Etches Park sidings, Derby over twenty years ago, for exactly the same reasons described in the article.

I worked in there and saw them, never fancied trying them though!

 

[iphone76]

I believe the article should say Rochford and not Romford, so exclusively 321s. (The Mirror and Standard say Rochford which would explain why they specifically mention the Southend Vic line).

 

[David57]

This story has been doing the rounds for years.....

 

[yorksrob]

I'm guessing it's a slow news day.

 

[sprinterguy]

But which of the trains running between London and Southend have toilets?

On the Great Eastern line it's mostly class 321. Do they have toilets? As they were built from 1988 onwards you'd expect any toilets to have retention tanks.

The report says the tomato plants were seen at Romford. Do the mark 3s on the Norwich services not have retention tanks? If not, excrement might be dumped from them, but why particularly at Romford?

Or is this just a tomato plant, and someone has jumped to hysterical conclusions?

I think that the oldest stock to have been fitted with retention tanks from new would be the 159s, 323s and Networkers in the early nineties. Anything older, if they have them at all, will have had them retrofitted - Most of the seventies and eighties DMU and EMU fleets still don't have them.

The only mark 3s that have been fitted with retention tanks, as far as I know, are those that have been refurbished for Chiltern.

 

[Mojo]

I'm guessing it's a slow news day.

Probably... the local rag had the headline that councils are building up and measuring their stockpiles of grit (just like they do around this time every year) because we are due some cold weather soon (roughly at the same time it arrives every year!)

They even wheeled out a quote from Vantage Weather.

 

[yorksrob]

Probably... the local rag had the headline that councils are building up and measuring their stockpiles of grit (just like they do around this time every year) because we are due some cold weather soon (roughly at the same time it arrives every year!)

They even wheeled out a quote from Vantage Weather.

Cold weather in October/November. Well I never !

 

[Class 170101]

20 degrees celsius on Saturday - now thats cold.:roll:

 

[jopsuk]

majority of GA's fleet don't have tanks, as far as I know- don't think the mainline mark 3s have been fitted, the large fleets of 321s and 317s don't, doubt the 156s and 153s do either? Other than the 360s, 379s and 170s it's quite an old fleet. The 315s don't have loos at all, the passengers go on the seats, the aisles etc...

 

[petersi]

majority of GA's fleet don't have tanks, as far as I know- don't think the mainline mark 3s have been fitted, the large fleets of 321s and 317s don't, doubt the 156s and 153s do either? Other than the 360s, 379s and 170s it's quite an old fleet. The 315s don't have loos at all, the passengers go on the seats, the aisles etc...

Was retention tanks on the FCC/gn 317's and 321's a franchise commitment ?

 

[yorkie]

I don't know if this has already been discussed on here, but if it has, moderators please delete this..

It has, at Raw sewage still being dumped from trains on ECML however the OP did not the article content (this was before our rules consultation of 2012; we now require a quote ), and the hyperlink no longer works, though the tomatoes are mentioned by TDK in reply #13!

However no need to delete it, as it was a while back now, so a new thread about the issue doesn't do any harm

 

[Delta558]

I wonder if those complaining have been on trains with retention tanks fitted and not emptied? It's a revolting smell from the vestibule through to (often) a good way into the carriages. Remember, all smell is particulate so what you are smelling is microscopic bits of what's gone down the toilet.

Ballast is (or at least, used to be) treated so that anything dropped onto it would be broken down. I seem to remember from training that it was 'limed'. Regarding people on the tracks, the rule book states that you should turn away from an approaching train once in a position of safety. Tea bags get flung out occasionally and from the back you have little warning of track-workers!

 

[yorksrob]

I wonder if those complaining have been on trains with retention tanks fitted and not emptied? It's a revolting smell from the vestibule through to (often) a good way into the carriages. Remember, all smell is particulate so what you are smelling is microscopic bits of what's gone down the toilet.

Ballast is (or at least, used to be) treated so that anything dropped onto it would be broken down. I seem to remember from training that it was 'limed'. Regarding people on the tracks, the rule book states that you should turn away from an approaching train once in a position of safety. Tea bags get flung out occasionally and from the back you have little warning of track-workers!

Quite. I'm dreading the day I'm on a 2 carriage unit at the end of the day when the only toilet has locked itself out of use.

 

[TheEdge]

majority of GA's fleet don't have tanks, as far as I know- don't think the mainline mark 3s have been fitted, the large fleets of 321s and 317s don't, doubt the 156s and 153s do either? Other than the 360s, 379s and 170s it's quite an old fleet. The 315s don't have loos at all, the passengers go on the seats, the aisles etc...

The 156s are now all fitted with tanks and the entire Mk3 fleet is now due them. 153s still dump onto the tracks. No idea about the 321s and 317s.

 

[455driver]

I think that the oldest stock to have been fitted with retention tanks from new would be the 159s, 323s and Networkers in the early nineties.

159s were not built with tanks (they were actually built as 158s) but did have them fitted on conversion from 158s to 159s before entering passenger service, a small but significant difference.

 

[physics34]

There were tomatoes growing on the track at East Croydon in the 90s, which made the national press!