Berlin - A smoking ban that began Saturday on trains operated by Germany's main railway company, Deutsche Bahn, may trigger a crisis, with toilets constantly occupied by surreptitious smokers, a passenger lobby warned Saturday. Karl-Peter Naumann, chairman of Pro Bahn, said he was disappointed the company had not built powerfully ventilated "cells" on the express trains where smokers could resort when desperate for a puff.
"Heavy smokers will head for the toilets," he said in an interview. "That is what happened when the smoking cars were abolished (on July 1) on regional trains. You have to accept that. It's a fact whether you like it or not."
Deutsche Bahn, which voluntarily banned smoking, has set up smoking zones on 330 of its biggest stations, comprising sections of platform marked off by yellow lines. In the rest of the stations fines apply for smoking.
Naumann predicted that about half the people who have used railway smoking cars to date would stop travelling by rail and go by road.
A legislated smoking ban went into force Saturday in all German taxis and at 450 federal office buildings. A month ago, three of the 16 states in effect required restaurants to create no-smoking dining areas.
