South Wales Metro: Lack Of Toilets Tram-Trains ‘Dehumanising’
The title of this post is the same as that on this article on the BBC.
This is the first two paragraphs.
he lack of toilets on new tram-trains that will serve the south Wales valleys has been branded “dehumanising”.
Trams proposed for the new £738m south Wales rail network upgrade, planned for 2022, will not have toilets on board.
This toilet issue was raised with Crossrail and I wrote about it in 2015, in Do Crossrail Trains Need Toilets?.
Now that the Crossrail trains have been running for some time, toilet issues don’t seem to be raised.
The Anonymous Widower 
Crossrail trains have indeed been running for some time, but only short[ish] commuter routes. Journeys will be much longer if and when they start running through the tunnels.
Comment by R. Mark Clayton | September 20, 2019 |
This is Very Very Old News! However i see the BBC and other news organisations are a bit slow as this infomation was put in the public domain back August 2018. However it also looks like some AM’s at the time didn’t look through the infomation pack they were given when the franchise was awarded and again when the new train order was confirmed.
There are new toilets planed at the following station Treherbert, Aberdare, Merthyr Tydfil, Tonypandy, Abercynon and 5 others on the Rhymney/Coryton Line. With toilets at Pontypridd and Radyr already and i understand it the toilets will be open while the train service is operating. It is claimed this will mean less than 15 mins between stations with toilets.
Finally with the new trains comes a new timetable and this means trains every 15 mins from Treherbert, Aberdare & Merthyr Tydfil. Which in turn makes the service every 5 minutes from Pontypridd. So you can hope off on route to use the loo if required.
It should also be pointed out this is for the Core Valley Lines only eg Treherbert, Aberdare & Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff.
Comment by Mike Fox | September 20, 2019 |
A lot of Crossrail’s outer stations have toilets and it looks like the SWM is following a similarly philosophy!
Merseyrail and the London Overground have trains without toilets, four trains per hour and serve similar strings of town centres like the SWM, so it looks like all three networks will be similar.
Comment by AnonW | September 20, 2019 |
I remember when we had compartment stock without corridors and journeys of several hours !
As for Crossrail very few journeys will be end to end with most journeys similar to those currently made on underground services. While plans for services don’t seem to include full length services from say Reading to Sheffield .
It’s whether all central London Elizabeth Line Stations will have Toilets is the unknown question.
Comment by Melvyn | September 20, 2019 |