GNER, the York-based train operator, has failed to stop its trains spraying human waste from on-board toilets, union leaders have warned.
The general secretary of the RMT union, Bob Crow, has said the problem of spilling effluent into the atmosphere has worsened despite warnings from the Railways Inspectorate. He claimed that three months after a new £500,000 tank-emptying facility was opened at Heaton depot, near Newcastle, monitoring of trains at a crossing near Darlington has revealed that the problem has worsened.
The union has demanded that the Railways Inspectorate takes action to stop the spray of human waste being released into the air from toilet tanks when trains go round steeply-banked bends at speed or brake heavily.
"It is now more than two years since our members working on the track near Darlington complained that they were being sprayed with human excrement and we asked GNER to deal with it," said Mr Crow.
He added: "If GNER cannot find any other way to sort out the problem, they will have to put in place speed restrictions in those places where the discharge is released.
"We have had enough lies and excuses, and we now need to see our members' and the travelling public's health and safety put ahead of GNER's profits."
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