Railways to install plastic bottle crushers at Mumbai stations

In a move to implement the plastic ban on the suburban railway stations, both Central and Western Railway will be installing bottle crushing machines that will be used to dispose of plastic bottles. The Central Railway (CR), in a meeting with passenger associations on Friday, stated that bottle crushing machines would be installed at its major stations.

The passenger associations welcomed the move of installing the crushing machines and said they would give their full cooperation on the ban on plastic products on the railway premises. “It is a welcome move as most of the tracks are clogged up because of the plastic, which people throw on the railway tracks. The machines will also help in disposing of plastic water bottles. Earlier, the CR was the first division to ban plastic but had to roll back its decision. All the associations have decided to support the railways in its move,” said Subhash Gupta, president, Rail Yatri Parishad.

Asking for commuters’ support, CR has also asked the associations to educate passengers on not throwing plastic materials on the railway tracks and also inform railway officials if banned plastic is being used in the premises.

“Commuter support is a must after the plastic ban is imposed. We will be installing bottle crushing machines at major stations wherein a commuter can give the plastic bottles to the stall owners who will then dispose of the plastic materials,” said a senior CR official.

CR in a meeting last week had decided to completely stop the purchase of plastic, a material banned by the Maharashtra government. It was also decided to serve eatables in paper plates, cups and cardboard boxes at its railway stations.

Further, the railways also discussed introducing the Sunday timetable during monsoon on days with heavy rainfall warning along with high tide alert. The Sunday timetable would see 348 fewer services being operated on CR. On normal days, CR operates 1,732 local train services and on Sunday, it operates 1,384 services. Commuter associations were at first reluctant on the implication of following the Sunday timetable, but they later agreed to the decision — with a condition.

“We have approved the initiative but have kept the condition that passengers should be informed about the warning of the high tide and heavy rainfall well in advance. We have also asked the railway officials to reinstate the normal timetable if there is no heavy rainfall during warning of heavy rainfall. But the railways stated they would operate special services when there is no rainfall despite warning,” said Gupta.