As of next spring, smoking rooms will be replaced with areas to store drinking water for emergencies, Central Japan Railway Co., West Japan Railway Co. and Kyushu Railway Co. said, citing growing health consciousness and declining smoking rates.
The move, which will affect the Tokaido Shinkansen line that connects Tokyo and Osaka as well was the Sanyo and Kyushu lines in western Japan, will allow faster response time during disasters and other emergencies, the operators added.
Smoking has already been banned on most local trains in Japan, as well as on Shinkansen operated by Tokyo-based East Japan Railway and Hokkaido Railway.
