A Beijing court has ordered a railway authority to eliminate smoking areas on trains to provide a ‘better traveling environment for passengers’, according to a story in The China Daily.
The court said also that ashtrays should be removed.
The Beijing Railway Transport Court gave the order to the Harbin Railway Bureau in a ruling that said the removal of smoking-related facilities and zones would protect the public interest.
‘People’s rights sometimes come into conflict in a closed space, such as trains,’ the verdict said. ‘Passengers’ rights to stay healthy in coaches, we believe, is more important than the rights of smokers.’
Sun Weihong, the railway bureau’s attorney, said after the announcement that the bureau hadn’t decided whether to appeal against the decision.
Jiang Yuan, deputy director of the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, applauded the ruling, describing it as the beginning of the end of smoking on ‘ordinary trains’.
In China, smoking is prohibited on high-speed trains, but not on ordinary trains.
“The case can be considered the country’s first lawsuit in which an ordinary train was ordered to prohibit smoking,” Jiang said.
The decision, Jiang added, would help contribute to smoking control in other public places.
Smokers off the rails
