Dutch national railway offering piss bags for passengers.

AMSTERDAM — The Dutch national railway has an unusual solution for passengers who need the bathroom on a train line designed without them: plastic bags.

The rail operator underlined that the bags, introduced Friday, are for use in emergencies only, when a train has stopped and passengers can't be evacuated. The idea has been met with incredulity by politicians and the general public already unhappy with the short-haul "Sprinter" trains' bathroomless design.

NS spokesman Eric Trinthamer confirmed Friday the "pee-bag" plan is not a joke. The bags are kept out of sight in the conductor's booth.

The bags have a cup-shaped plastic top and contain a highly absorbent material that turns urine into a gel-like mixture. After use the bags can be sealed and thrown in the trash.

This is a brilliant idea! Obviously bathrooms on the trains would be a better idea, but piss bags are better than nothing. What would these naysayers and doubting thomas' rather do when trapped on a train, piss on the floor, or piss in a specially designed bag that turns your pee into gel? Nobody likes the barf bags on planes either, but they are very handy in an emergency situation. Sure, piss bags might be a little harder to use for women than they are for men, but them's the breaks. Word out of Holland is that the trains are also developing prototype shit bags. Not really sure how I feel about that one.