After fire originating from coach toilets or dustbins triggered 17 accidents in the last three years, the Ministry of Railways has decided to act tough to curb smoking on trains.
As part of a ‘zero tolerance’ policy, the Railway Board directed the Railway Protection Force and ticket-checking staff not to tolerate smoking on trains and penalise the violators.
“Smoking and/or disposing of the burning cigarette butt/matchstick in the toilet dustbins is a major hazard. Reckless behaviour by a few passengers is posing a threat to the safety of others on trains,” the Railway Board said in an advisory to the General Managers of Zonal Railways.
Metallic bins
Rolling out a plan, the advisory said loose non-metallic or fibre-reinforced plastic dustbins should be replaced with metallic dustbins in all coach toilets across the network. Railway coach manufacturing factories were told to install metallic dustbins in all new coaches. Even built-in bins should be replaced with metallic dustbins at the earliest.
Penalty on violators
“Smoking on trains should not be tolerated and controlled strictly by the Railway Protection Force and ticket-checking staff by imposing penalty on violators as per rules. Zero tolerance must be the policy,” the Railway Board said.
Besides an intense awareness campaign through all forms of the media to sensitise people to the need for refraining from smoking on board, posters should be pasted in all trains to caution passengers against smoking in the coach toilets and disposing of any burning object in the dustbin.
