It has become the consensus of the whole people to ban smoking on all high-speed rail and high-speed trains. However, it is still common for ordinary passenger trains to set up smoking areas and provide smoking utensils, and smoking is not prohibited. In order to protect the riding environment, many people call for "green trains" to be smoke-free.

On January 4, 2021, the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) sued the railway company to Beijing Fourth Intermediate People's Court in response to the “normal speed train smoking”. After the Civil Code came into effect, China's first public interest litigation for "smoke-free trains" was formally filed.

The plaintiff China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) filed a lawsuit alleging that from the beginning of 2019 to January 2020, many passengers reported that when taking their kids on ordinary passenger trains, they often encountered smokers smoking casually in the smoking area of the train and at the junction of the carriage. No one manages, resulting in extremely poor air quality.

As a result, the plaintiff staff and volunteers conducted on-site investigations and tests. They took the K42 and K41 trains through Beijing Station, Shacheng Station, Xuanhua Station, and Zhangjiakou Station respectively, and discovered during the nearly four-hour journey: There are smoking utensils at the joints of the carriages and signs of smoking areas are posted. Some passengers not only smoke in the smoking area, but even smoke in the wash area of the sleeper. There was no one to manage and stop it, and it was the winter vacation at the time, and there were more underage passengers in the trains.

The plaintiff’s staff and volunteers used the air detectors they carried to measure and showed that the air pollution index in the middle of the compartment was significantly doubled after someone smoked at the junction of the compartment, and PM2.5 was 9.66 times higher than when no one smoked.

CBCGDF believes that trains k42 and k41 are operated by China Railway Lanzhou Bureau Group Co., Ltd. The Beijing Railway Station, Xuanhua Railway Station, Shacheng Railway Station, and Zhangjiakou Railway Station through which the train passes are the primary transport station sections of Zhangjiakou Train Depot under the jurisdiction of China Railway Beijing Bureau Group Co., Ltd. As a state-owned company responsible for national railway transportation and unified dispatch and command, China National Railway Group Co., Ltd. has statutory supervision responsibilities and obligations for k42 and k41 trains. However, the above three companies allowed the trains managed and supervised to set up smoking areas and allowed smoking in the trains, causing serious air pollution in the trains. They should bear the legal responsibility for environmental infringement. Therefore, the plaintiff sued the three companies to the court.

At present, the Beijing Fourth Intermediate People's Court is further hearing the case.

Original Chinese article:

https://xw.qq.com/cmsid/20210106A050FQ00

By / Maggie

https://www.paypal.me/CBCGDFChina

http://www.cbcgdf.org/English/ConfirmDonaTion/0.html