From 2023, smoking will no longer be allowed on the platforms of the NMBS. The Mobility Committee of the House has today approved a bill from the green party. N-VA and Vlaams Belang abstained and PVDA voted against. The text still has to be approved by the full House.
Smoking has been banned on trains since 2004, but today smoking is still allowed on uncovered or semi-covered platforms. The proposers want to strengthen the exemplary function with the bill. In addition, it should remove any confusion. Today travelers sometimes do not know where smoking is allowed and where it is not allowed in stations, in corridors or on platforms.
For initiators Kim Buyst (Green) and Nicolas Parent (Ecolo), this measure primarily relates to public health: avoiding passive smoking on busy platforms and taking preventive action. “Seeing smoking makes smoking, and that is also the case with young people,” explained ex-smoker Buyst. But there is also the environmental problem: the cigarette butts are polluting.
The measure would not come into effect until early 2023. This should give SNCB the time to inform travelers about the reasons and benefits of this measure in terms of public health, but also in the environmental field. The text was created in collaboration with Kom Op Tegen Kanker and Stichting Tegen Kanker.
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Aggression
The opposition did not support the measure. According to Tomas Roggeman (N-VA), Frank Troosters (Vlaams Belang) and Maria Vindevoghel (PVDA), the measure will shift the problem, because smokers will then gather elsewhere to light a cigarette quickly, for example at the entrance of the station. . Jef Van den Bergh (CD&V) refuted that argument. He referred to a pilot project in Mechelen where a smoking zone is provided, away from the entrance. Another counter-argument relates to the enforcement and the fear of aggression that would live among the staff.
Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) is satisfied with the approval of the proposal of his green colleagues. “Stations must be clean and pleasant. By making the platforms of stations smoke-free from 2023, the same rules apply here as in other public areas. This amendment to the law is therefore good news for the comfort and health of travelers, who have been asking for this for some time. be a party,” Gilkinet said.
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