When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Sources

Dutch Train Company ‘Solves’ Toilet Fiasco With Emergency Pee-In-A-Bag

About 130 of Dutch Rail’s new trains don’t have toilets. So what are passengers to do when nature calls? Call the company's proposed solution what you wish -- Travel John, Pee-in-a-bag, Urinal-in-a-box -- not all are convinced that this is a mark

Travel John-brand portable urinals
Travel John-brand portable urinals


*NEWSBITES

The Dutch national rail company, the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), knows it has a good product. Despite tight scheduling and a complex railway system, NS's trains are almost always on time. The rail company is so confident, in fact, it guarantees passengers half the price of their ticket back if a train is 30 minutes late, and a free ride if a train is more than an hour late. Terms like this would drive a less efficient company to ruin.

But of course nobody's perfect. NS's solid reputation is suddenly being sullied over a matter involving nature, as in the kind that occasionally calls. It turns out that NS chose not to equip 131 of its new trains with toilets, figuring the travel distances for which the particular trains are used are short enough that passengers, even if they had to go, could just hold it.

Big mistake. Passengers, and even some politicians, say the oversight is no laughing matter. "It's unbelievable, nearly all trains offer Internet access, but you can't take a pee," said Green politician Ineke van Gent in the Dutch House of Representatives. Railway personnel also complained. But it was the NS's solution to the problem that really caused an outcry.

Introducing the "Travel John" – a "leak-proof, reusable, disposable urinal," as the packaging says. "The Civilized Solution! Anytime! Anywhere!" the manufacturer's website boasts. The NS says the pocket-potty is to be used in extreme emergencies, such as when "a train is unexpectedly stopped en route." Should, under such circumstances, a passenger have a very pressing need, he or she can ask the conductor for a Travel John and retire to the empty train driver's cabin at the end of the train.

Travel John pee bags are filled with white powder that turns to gel on impact with liquid. Passengers may either leave their Travel John on the train, or take it with them when they get off and toss it into the nearest trash container.

So what do passengers think about NS's "civilized solution"? Lieke van der Boom is on her way from Venlo to Nijmwegen. The train is on time, clean and fast, the air-conditioning system not only works it doesn't make any noise. And she has a seat. Van der Boom is not, however, happy. She can't get her head around having to pee into a bag. "Most people will probably just end up holding it," she says.

Read the full story in German by Torsten Thissen

Photo - hmboo

*Newsbites are digest items, not direct translations

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

Inside The Polish-Led Push To Send Fighter Jets To Ukraine – Bypassing Germany

A bloc of eastern European countries has distanced themselves from Western Europe — Germany in particular — by sending Soviet era jets to Ukraine, part of growing push to supply the country with Western-made fighter jets.

Photo of Slovakian Mig-29 at Sliac AFB

Slovakian Mig-29 at Sliac AFBs

Philipp Fritz

Following Poland’s lead, Slovakia has now declared its plans to send MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine. The U.S. may well have been kept informed of the decisions, but Warsaw did not tell the German government. Some Eastern European allies are distancing themselves from Western Europe. And there’s a good reason for that.

Once again Poland is pushing ahead with supplying weapons to Ukraine. “We can say that we will shortly be sending MiG fighter jets to Ukraine,” said President Andrzej Duda on Thursday in Warsaw, during a visit from the Czech President Petr Pavel – announcing it almost in passing, as seems to be Duda’s way.

Duda went one step further than his Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who only the day before had set out a timeline for Poland to provide jets. He said it would take four to six weeks, then the President and commander-in-chief announced a shorter timeline of only a few days.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

The latest