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Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s national railway operator, has announced that it will ban alcohol consumption at all stations on its network in an effort to improve security and cleanliness for employees and passengers.
The ban will be introduced in a phased approach at all 5,400 stations by 15 October, though there will be exemptions, including for station bars and restaurants.
Bans have already been introduced at 30 stations, among them in Cologne, Hamburg and Munich. Berlin’s central and Gesundbrunnen stations will follow on 1 September, along with some others, before the measure is expanded nationwide.
“We have observed too often that violence increases where too much alcohol flows,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Evelyn Palla said in a statement.
She pointed to a “brutal and senseless attack” last week in which an intoxicated passenger is alleged to have beaten and kicked a member of security staff during a ticket check. The employee fell out of the moving train’s door and was injured.
People who flout the ban will be kicked out of stations and multiple offenders could be given a permanent ban from the premises.
Deutsche Bahn said in-station caterers will be exempted from the ban and people will still be allowed to carry closed bottles and cans of alcohol in their luggage or shopping bags. The ban won’t apply on board trains. Alcoholic drinks are sold in dining cars on many long-distance trains.
The European Union’s most populous country has a railway network totalling some 33,400 kilometres in length, used by an average 50,000 trains per day. Deutsche Bahn’s infrastructure division says that makes it Europe’s biggest network.
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