What happens to the waste from the toilet on a train?

Question

I haven't been in one recently, but there always used to be a sign saying "Do not flush while train is in the station", which always made me wonder...

Answer 1

Straight out on to the tracks.

I haven't been on a train for years, but back in the old days, when you flushed, a flap opened in the bottom of the bowl and you could see the sleepers below.

Answer 2

Not anymore, it is stored in a tank and pumped out every now and then to take to the STW, same as aeroplanes

Answer 3

It's dumped straight onto the tracks while the train is in motion.

Answer 4

On the old 125 H.S.T Trains the waste products do get put onto the tracks hence why they have "please do not flush in station " sign above flush handle.

The new electric trains do not flush waste onto the tracks they store it in tanks on the train to be disposed of at a later time

Answer 5

yes the waste of the train toilet is thrown straight onto the track while the train is moving my friend is a train driver an i just asked her. its just like on a plane the pilot doesn't release the waste untill the plane is way over the ocean

Answer 6

It used to be that the toilets were flushed directly onto the tracks, but at least in North America, that is a thing of the past.

"Sewage effluent", as it's sometimes referred to, is held in a tank on board, where it's mixed with a blue chemical that, presumably, treats it.  The tanks are pumped when the locomotives or cars receive their regular maintenance.

On a side note, when I used to work on the GO Trains (Toronto, ON area commuter railroad, train crews are CN crews), we had hazardous material sheets for the train - it listed such things as diesel fuel, and also the sewage from the coach's toilets.

Answer 7

don't know but thats an interesting question.

Answer 8

It is dumped on the track, thats why the usually have signs asking you not to use the trains toilets whilst in the station

Answer 9

it flushes away into a tank underneath the train which has chemicals in it to break solid matter down...  then every night it is emptied and washed out/re-filled with chemicals....  if you ever go past a train depot, you will see a little metal 'hut' and big tubes hanging at the side, that's the toilet tank unit....

Answer 10

I am wondering as well... Can you tell me when you got the right answer. THANKS.

Answer 11

Catch Tank.

In the UK Until the Mk 2 coaches of 1963 it went straight onto the tracks hence the do not flush while standing in the station signs.

Preserved railway coaches probably still do discharge on to the tracks so please defecate before travelling.

Answer 12

For many years, it got dumped on the tracks, but nowadays it is stored in an onboard tank and pumped out some other time, just like a porta-potty. Can't tell you why they wouldn't let you flush...unless you saw the sign many years ago or are somewhere other than the U.S.

Answer 13

This question was asked last week - take a look.

"Do not flush the toilet when the train is standing in a station" is a very good hint. Many trains do flush it directly onto the track - though more recently, there is a tendency to fit cess tanks to trains, and empty the toilets at the depots.

Have you ever wondered why the blackberries are so big alongside the railway line? ;o)

Answer 14

Depends on the consistancy. liquids spray out wide onto the tracks but solids usually wrap around the axles.  I seem to remember around 1945-6 a Sunday newspaper took up this problem and the railway companies promised to sort it, and I assume they are still sorting...  Possibly after it has been spread up and down the country, it is beyond sorting..............  Now, here is an opportunity for railway companies to use it as an incentive to stop children playing on the tracks.  

               "Play here and go home a walking sewer."

Answer 15

The Full Answer!

On the older trains when you went to the toilet you may recall seeing and if you look will still see today a sign that says please do not fllush while train is in a station, this is because the toilet empties straight onto the tracks.

If you go to your local station and look in the bay platform (if it has one) you will see piles of toilet paper and poo where people have decided to flush in the station.

On the more modern trains the waste is flushed into a tank which is emptied similar to the chemical toilets you get at festivals and in caravans.

Answer 16

did you ever walk along the tracks? i'm pretty sure they dump it as they are rolling along

Answer 17

dumped straight on the tracks

it biodegradable

Answer 18

Fluids used to be 'dumped' on the track as the train moved, hence the 'not whilst the train is in the station' business,, and "solids" are kept in a holding tank on the carriage.

Nowadays, due to the health and safety act, it's ALL held in tanks on the train for disposal the next time the train goes to depot.

So don't take too much notice of what the 'conductor' tells you!

Answer 19

It goes on the track Jon. That's why they say don't use the toilet in a station.

Ever heard of blue ice, by the way? That's what comes out of planes. (Apart from those desperate , poor, people who stow away in the undercarriage of planes. They freeze to death and fall out. There's a car-park in the flight-path to Heathrow.London.  These sad lonely persecuted people are found there on a regular basis)

Sorry....a bit heavy.....

Answer 20

It gets discharged over the tracks.

Unfortunately a lot of it splatters back up on to the engines, and when you are unfortunate enough to work in a diesel engine plant that reconditions train engines you find that your job can be rather messy!!

Answer 21

they put the waste in thier sandwiches at the buffet

Answer 22

they use it to make tea...

Answer 23

waste goes right on the ground, that's why u can't flash while in the station - can u imagine what stench there will be on every station?

Answer 24

Yuk, what a question to ask....i will watch the answers

Answer 25

The toilet desecrate when it leaves the train while it is moving  along the track. So every  time you flush the toilet on the train it lands onto the railway track. So you can image if you flushed it in the station while it not moving and after the train gone the toilet be there for everyone to see it from the platform.

Answer 26

That's not just black used oil in them sleepers

Answer 27

It is dumped on the side of tracks.

Answer 28

well if it goes on to the tracks i would suggest that people on the train do not open the windows on a windy day!!! you just never know!!!

Answer 29

On Italian trains you can actually see the track through the bottom of the toilet bowl.

Answer 30

The waste is used to cover your "tracks."

Answer 31

Its dumped onto the tracks.

Nice