Virgin to spend £3.5m to stop ‘Pendolino pong’

Virgin trains are to spend £3.5m to tackle the smell from their toilets which has been nicknamed the ‘Pendolino pong’.

Picture: Donald MacLeod

According to the Sunday Times, all of Virgin’s 56 Pendolino trains and 21 diesel-powered Voyagers will be refreshed to try and remove the smell.

The problem of the stench caught the attention of transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin who has personally worked with the train company to fix the issue on their fleet of electric trains.

It is thought the issue is the result of a design flaw in the tanks which hold waste underneath the toilets.

The tanks, which hold half a ton of waste, have a ventilation outlet which is positioned near the air-conditioning inlets on the trains, resulting in the unsavoury smell being blown around the train corridors during journeys.

In a statement, Virgin is quoted by the Sunday paper as saying: “Although toilet smells on our trains have attracted comment over the years, it’s worth setting that in context.

“The most recent National Passenger Survey showed satisfaction with our on-board facilities significantly higher, 60 per cent, than the average for long-distance operators, 52 per cent’.”