Water in train sinks "not drinkable"

[Flamingo]

How much for just a hot water then, if you wanted to make a fancy drink with it or something? (Sachet of flavoured hot chocolate perhaps? )

It's sold as a cup of tea, and the tea-bag given separate, not put into the water.

 

[Beveridges]

As someone who has filled Train Toilet Tanks up with water. Some of the water that goes into those toilet tanks has been recycled from a fuelling/tanking point.

On a typical Fuel/Tanking point, all fuel and overflowing toilet water (1,000's of litres every day) ends up down grids on the fuel rig, through underground pipes and ends up in a large tank at the end of the depots.

As fuel is less dense than water, fuel sinks to the bottom of the tank and the water is all on top of the diesel.

The water gets recycled and pumped into the trains toilet tanks which feeds the toilets and sinks.

Thats why its not drinking water; Not only has the water been spilled on the dirty filthy floor of a fuel pad, but it has been mixed with diesel as well, and then recycled.

 

[najaB]

As fuel is less dense than water, fuel sinks to the bottom of the tank and the water is all on top of the diesel.

I know I only got a D in A-level Physics, but something doesn't read right in that sentence...

 

[lincolnshire]

As someone who has filled Train Toilet Tanks up with water. Some of the water that goes into those toilet tanks has been recycled from a fuelling/tanking point.

On a typical Fuel/Tanking point, all fuel and overflowing toilet water (1,000's of litres every day) ends up down grids on the fuel rig, through underground pipes and ends up in a large tank at the end of the depots.

As fuel is less dense than water, fuel sinks to the bottom of the tank and the water is all on top of the diesel.

The water gets recycled and pumped into the trains toilet tanks which feeds the toilets and sinks.

Thats why its not drinking water; Not only has the water been spilled on the dirty filthy floor of a fuel pad, but it has been mixed with diesel as well, and then recycled.

I think you maybe wrong as even water that has been contaminated and recyled unless its cleaned properly wouldn,t be allowed to be used even in the sinks for hand washing on a train as if someone ended up with skin problems then look at the claims that would come flooding in.

Why do they have containers at station to put the tanking pipe ends in to stop them from been contaminated from the ground.

On a typical depot and even petrol filling station all the waste water from washing down pits and depot floors, fuelling points spillage that ends up going down the drains is not allowed into the water authority sewers unless its been passed through a oil interceptor installation to separate the fuel oil and any other oils from the water, as the collected waste oil is usually sold for reprocessing or some other use.

 

[edwin_m]

I'd love to see this on board First Great Western services!

But to be fair I can only repeat what others have said and expect that the water is kept in tanks. I certainly wouldn't want to drink tap water even if it fresh. I'd much rather purchase a bottle of water from the buffet.

I have no doubt the water on Amtrak is pure as the driven snow, or actually purer. In such a litigious country as the USA they would be sued for millions if it was otherwise.

 

[Michael.Y]

Yes, but you'd still then be missing the cup when it came to reconciling everything surely?

Yes this. If you say you had a hole in a cup, then you must return the cup with the hole in it to the depot. Simple.

 

[No Fault Found]

I know I only got a D in A-level Physics, but something doesn't read right in that sentence...

Quality

Seems to have gone unnoticed though

 

[Wolfie]

I believe that licensing rules don't apply to trains (or apply differently) hence the water not being provided for free. It is ironic that when LUL put out tannoys about having water with you, they do not provide a fountain on the station!

However, any licensed premises must provide potable drinking water and cannot charge you for it, or charge you for the "service" of the glass, the ice etc. I believe it has been argued that you need not purchase anything else for this to apply.

Indeed, and given this legislation was brought in at least in part to avoid deaths due to drug abuse and dehydration the Home Office guidance makes it abundently clear that it would expect the licensing authority (most likely the local Council in England and Wales) to move to wthdraw the license of non-compliant businesses. I am not sure what the Scottish legal situation is but imagine it is broadly similar.

http://www.haringey.gov.uk/home_office_-_selling_alcohol_responsibly.pdf

 

[TDK]

My kitchen (as most) - mixer tap. My downstairs loo - mixer tap, my bath - mixer tap, my bathroom sink - mixer tap, lastly I have a shower.....so only one sink (en-suite) has two taps, that's only because the sink chosen has two tap holes. There is absolutely no connection between UK building codes and two tap systems.

All mixer taps have to have a non return valve to stop the hot and cold water mixing. If the water runs warm to start with on the cold side this is down to heat convection due to the close proximity of the hot and cold feeds.

 

[rf_ioliver]

Reminds me of the time travelling back to Brighton from London on a Sunday evening some time in the early 90s. Engineering works and the only trains running between Victoria and Gatwick were the classic 73 hauled Gatwick Express units - all tickets accepted

I remember attempting to use one of the toilets but deciding not to as whoever had been there before had missed....and not just by a few centimetres but had probably exploded. In the sink were the, shall we say, the undigestible components of previous meals...

Suffice to say, after seeing this I decided to a) wait, b) never to even consider drinking or even using a sink on a train again, c) taking antiseptic wipes/soap along just in case, and d) feeling very, very sorry for the cleaner who would inevitable meet that later. The only thing I could think of was that they'd probably have to use a large quantity of petrol and a match to deal with it...eeww

I fear however after my first trip on a Voyager about ten years ago from York to Newcastle the above might not have been the worst incident that has happened...

t.

Ian

 

[unlevel42]

...
As fuel is less dense than water, fuel sinks to the bottom of the tank and the water is all on top of the diesel...

Somebody has stolen the gravity and replaced it with something very strange, perhaps this fraudulent version:

...because the height of the tank and the weight of the water combined with gravity gives more pressure..

 

[GatwickDepress]

Reminds me of the time travelling back to Brighton from London on a Sunday evening some time in the early 90s. Engineering works and the only trains running between Victoria and Gatwick were the classic 73 hauled Gatwick Express units - all tickets accepted

I remember attempting to use one of the toilets but deciding not to as whoever had been there before had missed....and not just by a few centimetres but had probably exploded. In the sink were the, shall we say, the undigestible components of previous meals...

Suffice to say, after seeing this I decided to a) wait, b) never to even consider drinking or even using a sink on a train again, c) taking antiseptic wipes/soap along just in case, and d) feeling very, very sorry for the cleaner who would inevitable meet that later. The only thing I could think of was that they'd probably have to use a large quantity of petrol and a match to deal with it...eeww

I fear however after my first trip on a Voyager about ten years ago from York to Newcastle the above might not have been the worst incident that has happened...

t.

Ian

I've experienced something similar, except it must have been on a a Silverlink 321 out of Northampton. It was not a pleasant end to a boiling hot summer's day...

Quality

Seems to have gone unnoticed though

I took Philosophy, not Physics. That's my excuse for not noticing.

 

[rmt4ever]

As someone who has filled Train Toilet Tanks up with water. Some of the water that goes into those toilet tanks has been recycled from a fuelling/tanking point.

On a typical Fuel/Tanking point, all fuel and overflowing toilet water (1,000's of litres every day) ends up down grids on the fuel rig, through underground pipes and ends up in a large tank at the end of the depots.

As fuel is less dense than water, fuel sinks to the bottom of the tank and the water is all on top of the diesel.

The water gets recycled and pumped into the trains toilet tanks which feeds the toilets and sinks.

Thats why its not drinking water; Not only has the water been spilled on the dirty filthy floor of a fuel pad, but it has been mixed with diesel as well, and then recycled.

From what you have just said, I'd prefer NOT to wash my hands, than wash it in that..

 

[jimm]

Official guidance on water and railway sites

http://www.wras.co.uk/PDF_Files/IGN Railways 9-06-03.pdf

1993 BR code of practice

http://www.rgsonline.co.uk/Railway_Group_Standards/Rolling Stock/Other/GMTC0018 Iss 1.pdf

Unless I've missed a mention of it somewhere, surely a key factor when it comes to toilet and washbasin water tanks on trains is the use of water from private railway-owned boreholes at depots - unless all the ones sunk to supply steam loco water tanks have now been abandoned - which would not get the same level of treatment as tap water in the mains. Hence the rule about not drinking it.

Any depot staff able to comment?

 

[greatkingrat]

Technically licensed premises are only obliged to provide free tap water to customers. So they wouldn't have to provide it to someone who had just come in off the street without buying anything.

 

[LateThanNever]

Official guidance on water and railway sites

http://www.wras.co.uk/PDF_Files/IGN Railways 9-06-03.pdf

1993 BR code of practice

http://www.rgsonline.co.uk/Railway_Group_Standards/Rolling Stock/Other/GMTC0018 Iss 1.pdf

Unless I've missed a mention of it somewhere, surely a key factor when it comes to toilet and washbasin water tanks on trains is the use of water from private railway-owned boreholes at depots - unless all the ones sunk to supply steam loco water tanks have now been abandoned - which would not get the same level of treatment as tap water in the mains. Hence the rule about not drinking it.

Any depot staff able to comment?

In order for bore hole water to be drinkable it has to be 'approved' wherever it is by - I think - the water authority. That could be fine but like others I'm less enthusiastic about train tank storage...

 

[lincolnshire]

1993 BR code of practice

http://www.rgsonline.co.uk/Railway_Group_Standards/Rolling Stock/Other/GMTC0018 Iss 1.pdf

Unless I've missed a mention of it somewhere, surely a key factor when it comes to toilet and washbasin water tanks on trains is the use of water from private railway-owned boreholes at depots - unless all the ones sunk to supply steam loco water tanks have now been abandoned - which would not get the same level of treatment as tap water in the mains. Hence the rule about not drinking it.

Any depot staff able to comment?[/QUOTE]

The good old B.R. codes of practice, I guss now will have been changed to a Network Rail one? or maybe someone thinks no longer required.

I would also think that there won,t be many railway owned boreholes about these days unless there on Preserved Lines.

In the days of old Hull depots, washing plant and station water points was fed from 4 boreholes at Hessle very near the station.

It also incorperated a water softening plant for steam engines back in steam days. In later years it just pumped water without been softened but clorinated due to bird infestation in the water storeage tank area as it also fed water to the old St.Andrews fish dock till it closed down.

 

[jimm]

In order for bore hole water to be drinkable it has to be 'approved' wherever it is by - I think - the water authority. That could be fine but like others I'm less enthusiastic about train tank storage...

I clearly wasn't suggesting borehole water was being used for buffets and kitchens - but that with some basic treatment it would be fine for handwashing, hence the warnings not to drink it.

If there are boreholes available, surely you would use that rather than shelling out a packet for fully treated drinking water from one of the water companies, when most of it is just going to end up going down toilets anyway.

So, I'll ask again, do any depots have operating boreholes with basic water treatment in order to fill toilet tanks?

 

[jopsuk]

I would also think that there won,t be many railway owned boreholes about these days unless there on Preserved Lines..

Why not? I work on an industrial site with multiple of its own boreholes (and treatment facilities that provide potable water)

 

[driverop]

As someone who has filled Train Toilet Tanks up with water. Some of the water that goes into those toilet tanks has been recycled from a fuelling/tanking point.

On a typical Fuel/Tanking point, all fuel and overflowing toilet water (1,000's of litres every day) ends up down grids on the fuel rig, through underground pipes and ends up in a large tank at the end of the depots.

As fuel is less dense than water, fuel sinks to the bottom of the tank and the water is all on top of the diesel.

The water gets recycled and pumped into the trains toilet tanks which feeds the toilets and sinks.

Thats why its not drinking water; Not only has the water been spilled on the dirty filthy floor of a fuel pad, but it has been mixed with diesel as well, and then recycled.

Bevridges is not a MDD (as the east side call them, we are driver operators) , he is an enthusiast who embellishes what he does not know, quite often, as in this case, wrongly.

 

[455driver]

Quality

Seems to have gone unnoticed though

it was noticed but I couldnt be bothered!

 

[lincolnshire]

Bevridges is not a MDD (as the east side call them, we are driver operators) , he is an enthusiast who embellishes what he does not know, quite often, as in this case, wrongly.

Thought that must be the case as it sounded like a load of bull**** he was talking, another liability person who people believe to be gospel till others put the matter straight.

Also another one talking in initials as not everyone knows what a MDD is, it doesn,t take many more key strokes to put the full title so we all know what we are talking about.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Thought that must be the case as it sounded like a load of bull**** he was talking, another liability person who people believe to be gospel till others put the matter straight.

Also another one talking in initials as not everyone knows what a MDD is, it doesn,t take many more key strokes to put the full title so we all know what we are talking about.

Is there a plugin for vBulletin (the software this forum is using), which when it recognises an abbreviation, it generates a pop-up with the full text and maybe a very short explanation of it?

Those of us who are rail enthusiasts probably don't know many, there's probably some not known to every member who works in the rail industry.