Train Toilets

This page shows toilets on board trains. Toilets in train stations are shown on the corresponding national pages.

Passenger trains usually have toilets, and the on-board lavatory takes many forms.

The simplest train toilets are those called Drop Chute Toilets or Hopper Toilets. The term "Drop Chute Toilet" is obviously descriptive: the toilet bowl opens into a vertical open-bottomed chute or tube about 4-5" or 10-12 cm dropping the waste onto the tracks beside one of the rails.

"Hopper Toilet", on the other hand, could be confusing. The point is that there is no storage tank or hopper for the waste, the toilet dumps directly onto the track just like a hopper car used to transport grain.

You often find a flapper in the drop chute, limiting the air flow outside flushing times, but some times you can simply look down the tube and see the tracks rushing past. The lower opening of the drop chute should be shaped in such a way as to draw air down the chute by means of the Bernoulli Effect, much like an upside-down chimney. This pulls air into the lavatory through the door vents, and then down and out through the toilet, reducing odor within the car. This usually works just fine as it's simple technology. But as I discovered and describe below, it can go horribly wrong.

The simple drop chute design is slowly being replaced with holding tanks, usually featuring the familiar bright blue chemical solution. Some nations (e.g., the U.S. since around 1990) now use nothing but holding tank systems, others still have nothing but drop chute toilets, while many nations use a mixture.

The holding tank design obviously provides the opportunity for a cleaner solution for the stations and areas along the rail lines. However, it requires that the holding tank be emptied periodically. The down side is that the holding tank can fill, possibly backing up into the lavatory compartment, and often causing the train crew to lock the lavatory shut. A better solution, but you can't get to it.

The latest generation of passenger cars, like the French TGV, the Belgian Thalys, and Amtrak's Acela in the U.S., use lavatory units much like those found on passenger aircraft.

Belgium

The Belgian Thalys trains are similar to the French TGV, and connect Belgium with France and the Netherlands.

It's great service. Both Thalys and TGV trains run at 300 kph with a very smooth ride, connecting Brussels and Paris in about 80 minutes with a train leaving every 30 to 90 minutes.

As you can see here, the Thalys lavatories feature toilets with stainless steel bodies connected to a holding tank.

The opening at the bottom of the bowl is sometimes rather small, as seen above. However, these toilets use vacuum flushing, eliminating almost all of the waste with a minimal use of the blue chemical solution. They're similar to current aircraft toilet designs.

The Thalys trains arrive and leave Paris at the Gare du Nord station. The obvious end point in Belgium is the Brussels Midi Station.

Of course, not all Belgian trains are luxurious high-speed ones.

This is a regional train in Dinant, in the northwestern Ardennes Forest.

It has the standard foot-operated flapper valve opening directly onto the track.

Click here for pictures from Namur and Dinant.

Click here for several pages with pictures and descriptions from around Bastogne and the Battle of the Bulge.

Bulgaria

This is on board the overnight Bulgarian train from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Sofia, Bulgaria.

Seat down, seat up.

It's just the standard straight drop onto the tracks, so you are warned in several languages not to use it in the station, as seen below.

This train leaves Thessaloniki at 0030, spends about 0300-0350 crossing the border, and arrives in Sofia at 0805.

The sleeper compartments are very nice.

And to be complete, here is the sink in the compartment.

Closed, it's a desk.

Open, its about to suddenly slam shut.

Well, the intent is that open, it's a sink. With non-potable water, as it warns.

This toilet is on board the train from Sofia to Varna, by way of Gorna Oryahovitsa.

I took the second picture to better capture the view straight out the bottom of the pipe. This is why you aren't supposed to use these when the train is in the station.

This sign above the sink tells you to refrain from using the toilet when the train is in the station. It's in Bulgarian (of course!) plus Russian, German, and French. It also asks you to clean up after yourself.

The Bosfor Ekspresi is a Turkish train that runs from İstanbul to Bucharest, Romania. It leaves İstanbul with a sleeper car, a couchette car, and a coach car.

In Gorna Oryahovitsa, in central Bulgaria, it merges with a train out of Sofia. The train from Sofia is based on one that originated in Thessaloniki, Greece, and left its sleeper cars back in Sofia. The Bulgarian coaches and the Turkish sleeper and couchette are combined and pulled north toward Bucharest by a Bulgarian locomotive. Before crossing the Danube River into Romania, the Bulgarian locomotive is replaced by a Romanian one.

So, is this a Turkish train, a Bulgarian train, or a Romanian train? Yes!

The sleeper and couchette are definitely Turkish as they're owned by TCDD, the Turkish national rail company. And, its toilet at the end of the couchette car is in the Turkish style.

If you get on at Veliko Târnovo, you take a temporary seat in the coach. You're herded out onto the platform at Gorna Oryahovitsa as the Turkish coach is pulled off the train to wait to be connected to the next Bosfor Ekspresi bound back to İstanbul.

You're then told by the Bulgarian conductor to sit in an empty seat in the couchette car, as it will be an hour or so before the joining train arrives from Sofia. That gives the Turkish conductor plenty of time to try to scam you into paying a couchette supplement as, according to him, there will be no coaches arriving. Ignore him, it's a scam, and a rather clumsily attempted one at that.

Eventually the train from Sofia arrives and the two trains are merged. Then you find a Bulgarian owned coach with your assigned seat. And, the typically blue Bulgarian train toilet.

Click here to see the toilets at the Veliko Târnovo station.

Czech Republic

The City Night Line passenger train provides great service north and west from Prague through Berlin, Köln, and Amsterdam.

The City Night Line includes the common couchette overnight accomodation, but it also has luxury first-class sleeper compartments.

This is the nicest overnight train I have ever seen!

This gymnastic minded toilet is in the spacious handicap accessible lavatory in a couchette car on board the City Night Line train.

The luxury First Class sleeper compartments on the City Night Line train have their own compact but private toilet and shower!

It is not as cramped as you might expect — there is no need to stand straddling the toilet as you shower. The private lavatory is oval in shape, with the toilet at one side and a sink and shower area at the other.

This washroom is on board a EuroCity train running from Budapest to Prague.

Egypt

This squat toilet is found on board the Egyptian passenger train on the Aswan-Luxor-Cairo route paralleling the Nile.

Although this was an express train, and thus far superior to local service, there was something dreadfully wrong here.

No Egyptian train toilet is supposed to be this clean!

France

This Toilette a Grande Vitesse, or High Speed Toilet, is found on board the TGV or Train a Grande Vitesse, the High Speed Train running through France.

Before leaving my seat, my GPS had synced up and was indicating a speed of 305 km/hour.

The toilet at left is on an older regional train in southern France, running between Toulouse and Avignon.

The one at right is a nearly identical design on a slightly newer regional train running between Nice and Marseille.

Old-style train toilets like these have no holding tank. Their flapper valve opens into a 10cm diameter pipe dropping straight onto the tracks.

At left is the toilet on an newer RER regional train in France, running between Marseille and Béziers. It's stainless steel, vacuum flushed, with a holding tank.

Greece

This is a handicap-accessible toilet on board a relatively new train running from Athens to the Kalambaka station at Meteora.

As the sign says:

ΜΗ ΡΙΧΝΕΤΕ ΧΑΡΤΙΑ ΣΤΗ ΛΕΚΑΝΗ

MI RIKHNETE KHARTIA STI LEKANI

DON'T THROW PAPERS IN THE TOILET

This is a toilet on board Inter-City train number 54, the Αριστοτελης, the Aristotelis (or Aristotle), running from Athens to Thessaloniki. Greek passenger trains aren't painted in a camouflage or Pop Art scheme, but many are almost completely covered with graffiti.

Click here to see the toilets at stations in Athens, Kalambaka, Korinthos, and Thessaloniki.

Hungary

See the EuroCity train running between Budapest and Prague, see above.

Italy

Italy has a good train system, click here for pictures and details on Italian train travel.

This toilet on board an inter-city train between Firenze and Pisa is modern, clean, and it has a holding tank.

These are simpler toilets on board a regional train running along the coast from La Spezia through the Cinque Terre.

No holding tank, just a simple drop right onto the tracks, but reasonably functional.

This is the worst train toilet I have ever encountered, on a regional Italian train out of Firenze.

It looks ordinary — a simple drop straight onto the track, much like the one just above. The slightly different seat design appears to be the only difference. Oh, if only that had been true....

I took this picture before using the toilet, and I was the first person to use it after the train had been sitting in the station for quite a while. So, things were reasonably clean. The drain pipe had dried, a crucial aspect of what was to come.

The problem is that the drain pipe seems to be directional. It is supposed to draw air down the pipe like a chimney, pulling waste and air down the toilet, out of the compartment, and onto the tracks.

The problem was that this one was forcing air up the pipe, with an effect that you can probably imagine but might prefer not to.

Full speed operation forced a very brisk air flow up the pipe. The result was a high-speed urine fountain. Closing the seat and lid just slightly changed the direction of flow — rather than spraying straight up, it now came out horizontally about knee high. The high air speed made for very fine droplets that more easily stayed airborne.

By the time we got into the next city, the interior of the toilet compartment had been coated in a fine mist of urine. It was a fairly long trip, people had had to use it and recharge the fountain.

Latvia

This Latvian passenger car on the Riga-Tallinn line was built in Russia, back in the days of the Soviet Union.

Notice the footpads. Most Soviet rail cars were built to all-USSR standards, hence this feature for Central Asian use. Lower the seat and it's a raised throne. In the configuration shown, it's an elevated squatter.

The tricky part is staying perched up there as the train sways through erratic Soviet-era rail joints, especially on the largely unmaintained Russian rail lines.

The exposed plumbing may provide adequate hand grips for those trying these advanced techniques, although someone in our group working at the hospital in Sankt-Peterburg was sent flying, with semi-disasterous results, during just such an attempt.

Netherlands

The Dutch national railway Nederlandse Spoorwegen announced in September 2011 that their toiletless "Sprinter" trains would be supplied with plastic bags for use only in emergencies when the train is stopped and the passengers (and their bladders) cannot be evacuated. These bags, kept out of sight in the conductor's compartment, have a cup-shaped plastic top and contain a highly absorbent material that captures urine and results in a gel-like material.

People's Republic of China

This is surprisingly non-nasty, but it is an elite train frequented by decadent Capitalist Roaders.

This is from the express train linking Hong Kong and Guangzhou, P.R.C.

This similar design (minus the theoretically non-slip foot pads) is from an overnight sleeper from Guangzhou to Guilin in the People's Republic of China.

It's also surprisingly non-nasty, but it is from the "soft sleeper" car.

Yes, in the allegedly classless socialist wonderland, trains have classes!

Note the handy two-handed handle, necessary for use when traversing those irregular tracks!

Romania

This stainless steel toilet is on board a train running north from Bucharest to Suceava.

Below instructions on how to flush it, in Romanian, French, German, and Italian.

This system seems similar to what you find on airliners. There are four downward pointing jets around the rim of the bowl, each spraying a fan of blue cleanser at least 120° wide. After they spray, the trapdoor at the bottom opens to a powerful vacuum.

With the holding tank system, there is no rule against using it in the station.

The toilets on board the EuroNight 472 passenger train from Bucharest, Romania to Budapest, Hungary, are located at the ends of the car. Some are entered from the end of the corridor, as seen at left, others from the noisy space next to the entry door at the very end of the car.

The Romanian cars have signs in Romanian, German, English, and French:

Russia

At left is a Russian passenger car on the Moscow-Sankt Peterburg line.

Many Russian train toilets have weak or broken springs on the trapdoor at the base of the bowl, providing a view of the tracks rushing past underneath and a refreshing breeze.

No TP, just a wire brush in a small bucket....

Turkey

This is the lavatory on board the Turkish 1st-class yataklı vagon, or sleeper car, on the Pamukkale Ekspresi between İstanbul and Denizli.

Note the distinctively Turkish (and somewhat intrusive) thin copper line providing water in lieu of any disposable dry abrasive. It's controlled by the valve immediately to the user's right, thus leaving the left hand free for, uh, the sort of activity that means left-handed eaters are viewed with horror in the Middle East.

This image is from the late 1990's, see the three below for more recent Turkish train toilet developments.

The Pamukkale Eksprsei in 2004 — Turkish toiletology had changed significantly in the past four years! The toilet itself is largely unchanged.

Flush it! On board the Pamukkale Eksprsei in 2004.

This was the strange thing in 2004 — Turkish toilets, even on board the Pamukkale Eksprsei, were largely equipped with toilet paper! OK, fine, a dumpy hotel that calls itself an Otel and doesn't really cater to foreign visitors was still uncontaminated by TP, but changes were underway.

This is also on board the Pamukkale Ekspresi overnight train between İstanbul and Denizli, but this is in a second-class coach car. And back in 2000 or so. A toilet compartment built largely from stainless steel.

This is from the İzmir Ekspresi overnight train between Ankara and İzmir. It's a somewhat downscale overnight train as Turkish trains go, but it's still a nice way to travel.

Note the great similarity between this toilet and the one from the Pammukale Ekspresi above. Basically the same cars, the first-class yataklı vagon.

This is the toilet in the fabulous Ankara Ekspresi overnight train running between İstanbul and Ankara.

The first-class yataklı vagon (sleeping car) is the nicest overnight train I've ridden anywhere.

Brand-new high-tech sleeping compartments, comfortable beds, these clean toilets, and even a shower at one end of the car! The service is fantastic — each compartment has a refrigerator with a bottle of mineral water and a box of juice, plus a candy bar, for each passenger. A nice ride for about US$ 35.

Also see the Bosfor Ekspresi toilet shown above in the section on Bulgaria.

U.K.

This handrail-equipped train toilet is on board the Great Northern Railway train between London and Edinburgh, UK. Although it's a very nice and modern train, they still give the traditional advice regarding train toilets:

Magnets! MAGNETS!! LOOK OUT!!!

Some of the UK railways put magnets in their train toilet seats and lids.

They provide rather ominous warnings about it.

See the Toiletological Signage page for more toilet signs.

U.S.A.

During the 1970's the U.S. federal government nationalized most all passenger rail service in the United States, forming Amtrak. The resulting trains are nice inside, and along the East Coast they keep to useful schedules.

These, however, are from The Cardinal, which links Chicago and New York via Cincinnati and Washington, loosely approximating a three-times-weekly schedule, and Chicago and Indianapolis on the other four days. At least the stainless toilets are fairly nice!

They're the classic holding tank design, which means that the tank can fill and the lavatory be closed en route on the 26-hour trip between New York and Chicago.

This toilet is on board one of Amtrak's high-speed Acela trains running between Boston and Washington DC.

As you can see, it's very similar to the vacuum flushing aircraft toilet design.

This stainless steel toilet suite is on board a MARC (Maryland Rail Commuter Service) train between Washington and Baltimore.

Click here to see the former restrooms at the Astor Place subway station in New York.

Rose George's The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters is a fascinating description of sanitation conditions around the world. "2.6 billion people don't have sanitation. [....] Four in ten people have no access to any latrine, toilet, bucket, or box."

In September 2009, Morna Gregory and Sian James published a book titled Toilets of the World. It's pretty much the same theme that you find here — photographs and commentary on other people's plumbing.

The Porcelain God: A Social History of the Toilet, by Julie Horan, contends that civilization began with the toilet.

Toilet: Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing, edited by Laura Noren and Harvey Molotch, has essays by anthropologists, sociologists, and architects on the importance of the toilet, especially for urban dwellers.

Latrinae Et Foricae: Toilets in the Roman World describes the toilets of the Roman Empire from Iberia to Syria, and from North Africa to Hadrian's Wall in Britannia.

Toilets, Bathtubs, Sinks, and Sewers: A History of the Bathroom, explains the history of personal cleanliness and hygiene to children in grades 5-8.

If you're not bored yet, you might be interested in (or at least tolerate):

• Travel suggestions
• To Bob's main site