SRT bids to clean up its toilets

SRT bids to clean up its toilets

Trains, stations to see hygienic overhaul

Filthy, stinking toilets on the train and at railway stations should become a thing of the past as the State Railway of Thailand revamps them over the next six months, SRT governor Wuthichart Kalyanamitra said.

Workers scrub a toilet at Hua Lamphong railway station as part of an effort to make toilets at railway stations and on trains cleaner before the Songkran festival next month. Pornprom Satrabhaya

He said the organisation needs to make major improvements to train services to boost public confidence in the railway.

The toilets on trains and at stations will be given special attention as part of those upgrades as they are often the subject of public complaints.

Mr Wuthichart said passengers will soon see a jump in the hygiene standards of railway toilets and their squalid states will fade from memory.

The SRT is installing a new toilet system on trains as well as working to modify old carriages into fully-equipped toilet coaches that will be connected to trains.

The hygiene standards will meet the requirements of the Ministry of Public Health and cleaners will make sure standards do not slip, he said.

Flush toilets will replace the traditional squat-type toilets.

New toilets will have separate rooms for males and females to provide privacy for passengers, he said.

In the past, there was only a single unisex toilet in each carriage. 

Mr Wuthichart promised significant improvements will be seen within six months.

For the immediate future, passengers will also see more cleanliness at railway stations as the SRT has sought help from the Department of Corrections to send out teams of prisoners to clean up toilet areas at all railway stations nationwide.

The improvement plans also include trimming trees to enhance the beauty of the landscape around railway stations and improve public safety, he said.

The pilot improvement schemes are being carried out at Samsen and Hua Lamphong stations and are due to be completed by Thursday, he said.

Toilets at Hua Lamphong station are currently closed for renovation and redecoration to raise them to acceptable standards, Mr Wuthichart said.

The toilets have also been upgraded with modern fixtures to provide better comfort for users, he added. 

The renovation is expected to cater to the needs of increasing numbers of passengers during the Songkran festival when more people take journeys out of the city.

In the meantime, the department had sought assistance from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to provide a mobile toilet for passengers at the Hua Lamphong station.

Mr Wuthichart said the SRT also plans to provide public toilet services, free of charge at railway stations nationwide, in response to Transport Minister ACM Prajin Juntong's directives.

The SRT governor said he ordered authorities to inspect toilets to see what needs to be improved to meet higher standards.

He also ordered authorities to look at how toilet concessions in each station are run and how maintenance systems are operated to calculate compensation for private companies if the SRT wanted to operate the services itself.  

So far, the SRT has granted toilet service concessions to private companies.  

Meanwhile, Mr Wuthichart said the SRT also plans to build more shunt switching tracks to increase train punctuality.

Thailand usually uses a single-track railway in which trains in both directions share the same track, which is the main factor leading up to delays, he said.

More than 100 points of shunt tracks, to allow trains to shift from one track to another, may be constructed.

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