The water cooler now arriving at Platform 1

BRITAIN’S main railway stations are to have water fountains installed as Network Rail joins the movement against plastic.

It comes as the Government attempts to encourage people to carry refillable water bottles and extends the crackdown on single-use plastics such as takeaway boxes, disposable cups and drinking straws.

So far a number of supermarkets are cutting down on plastic, while coffee shops are introducing water fountains to discourage people from buying additional plastic water bottles when they could refill them.

Thérèse Coffey, the Suffolk Coastal MP, wrote to Network Rail noting an absence of water fountains, and urged it to build more at its stations.

Her letter, which was sent in December, was co-signed by Paul Maynard, the railways minister. Ms Coffey is also writing to operators of airports and motorway service stations to urge them to follow suit.

Network Rail said: “We are supportive of having water fountains in our managed stations and will be looking to see how we can take this forward.”

The company is looking at each station separately and assessing the feasibility of introducing fountains.

Speaking earlier this month, Ms Coffey said: “The world has woken up to the consequences of a disposable society. I have written to retailers, coffee shops and transport hubs across England asking them to provide free water refills to customers, and I’m delighted that many chains, including Starbucks and Pret, have already given this commitment to customers.”

The latest anti-plastic drive was instigated following Sir David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II documentaries were aired last year.