Toilets on trains.

[Tarquin88]

Mod – please move if inappropriate for this forum.

We are planning on doing the following journeys on weekdays in mid/late September if the timetable then is the same as now:

Basingstoke 1049 – Birmingham New Street 1248 [Bournemouth – Manchester Piccadilly, Cross Country]
BHM 1303 – Edinburgh 1807 [Plymouth – Aberdeen, Cross Country]

EDB 1212 – Manchester Piccadilly 1524 [Edinburgh – Manchester Airport, TransPennine Express]
MAN 1627 – BSK 2009 [Manchester Piccadilly – Bournemouth, Cross Country]

Are toilet facilities on these longish journeys likely to be “as normal” in current circumstances? If not, what contingency arrangements are likely to be made? [Note, for example, that the available time at BHM on the outward journey is only 15 minutes which is little more than the minimum connection time of 12 minutes.]

 

[Crossover]

As far as I'm aware, toilets on trains are operating as usual (in fact, in my experience it is the ones on the station that aren't!), subject to the usual issues of them being locked out for the usual reasons. If anything though, they are less likely to be broken than usual because the loadings on the trains are much less

 

[MDB1images]

All 4 toilets are in use on TPE Class 397s and work well.

The only time one would lock out would be due to a shortage of water, on the 397's it's 4 toilets for 5 carriages so losing 1 wouldn't be an issue (if it eases your worries even if all was lost toilet stops would then be requested for en route by the Guard).

The toilets are cleaned on arrival/pre departure at Edinburgh as are all touch points on board.

 

[ValleyLines142]

As @Crossover and @MDB1images have said, toilets are available for use as normal on the train, unless they are faulty. You'd have to be incredibly unlucky if all toilets on board are faulty. It's the stations that are a problem!

At Birmingham New Street the best toilets to use are the ones in between platforms 11 & 12 at the 'A' end of the station, as they are the biggest. There are some at the B end of the station near platforms 2 and 12 but they are much smaller.

Cardiff Central still, despite the rise in passenger use, only has one single cubicle open to serve the entirety of the station, and is all the way on platform 8. The main toilets on platforms 1/2, 3/4 and 6/7 are closed. I've spoken to TfW several times about this.