Sielce. Portable toilet on the new tram line to Gagarina

“Toilet rented exclusively for employees of Tramwaje Warszawskie Sp. zoo” – reads the sign on its door. The plastic outhouse was placed directly on the tracks, at the end of the new line to Gagarina. It is best visible from the side of busy Czerniakowska. On the sides it is masked by ivy, growing from pots and winding on wooden pergolas. Until the end of July (before tram traffic in this place was suspended for a month), the makeshift sanitary facilities contrasted with the modern Hyundai vehicles that ended their runs here.

The justification for installing the toilet was explained in the “Gazeta Stołeczna” by the new spokesman for Tramwaje Warszawskie, Witold Urbanowicz.

– The travel time of line 11 to the opposite end with full social facilities, dispatch and toilets ranges from 35 minutes in the case of shortened courses to the Wolski Cemetery, to over 50 minutes to Nowe Bemowo. Schedule breaks are planned on these loops, resulting from the regulations – explained Urbanowicz.

Asked about aesthetic considerations, he assured that the toilet is emptied and disinfected daily. He added that the company provided tram drivers with access to a toilet in a nearby veterinary clinic, but also wanted employees to have an alternative in the early morning hours (first runs before 5) and late evening hours (well after 23).

The portable toilet is of course a makeshift solution, for – as life has shown – those in Warsaw can have a long history. The cutting of a line through Wisłostrada, towards the housing estates being built in Siekierki, is planned, but not for this decade.

Trams returned to Gagarin after more than 50 years. This episode it is just a branch of the route to Miasteczko Wilanów, which has been under construction for two years. The Sielecki “moustache” was put into service in May, but was closed in July due to work on connecting the tracks on Puławska and Rakowiecka. According to the plan, the works are to be completed by September 1.