A Portuguese¹ commuter² rail operator has launched a campaign urging its passengers to eat breakfast to try to reduce train delays caused by passengers fainting during the morning rush hour.

 

一家葡萄牙通勤铁路运营商日前发起一个宣传活动，敦促乘客上车前吃早餐以减少列车延误。据称因为不吃早餐而在早高峰晕倒的乘客太多，导致了列车频频晚点。

 

Fertagus, which operates trains linking Lisbon to Setubal 50kms to the south, put up posters at its stations that read: "Travelling without eating breakfast can affect everyone's trip!"

 

Forty-six passengers fainted on the company's trains during the first half of the year, causing delays to 51 trains totalling 209 minutes, Fertagus marketing³ manager Raquel Santos told news radio TSF.

 

"We realised that many of these cases are due to episodes⁴ of low blood sugar in people who have not eaten for several hours. Normally during the morning rush hour," she said.

 

"Many times it is not possible to immediately remove the passenger from the train and this causes delays. Often the alarm is pulled and this causes circulation⁵ on the whole network to be delayed."

 

In addition to eating breakfast, Fertagus recommends passengers carry a bottle of water and advises that, if they start to feel ill, they should get off at the next stop and seek help instead of remaining on the train.

 

The company, which transports around 70,000 passengers a day, plans to give out apples and yogurts to passengers at its stations next week as part of its campaign to promote breakfast eating.

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