The attack foiled Thalys raises the issue of security in railway stations and trains – Le Point

The attack foiled an armed man aboard Thalys is the question of security in railway stations and trains, complicated to make, while the actor Jean-Hugues Anglade accuses rowing officers for abandoning passengers Amsterdam-Paris train their fate.

The Belgian government decided on Saturday, hours after the attack, to strengthen security measures in trains and railway stations of the country, control of reinforced luggage, intensified patrols in Thalys, but also in stations.

Such measures are in effect decided by governments, not by the railways. The French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, has announced that SNCF would “establish a national number for reporting abnormal situations”.

“I think the question of extending the system of airports to stations, today we can not say it’s realistic, “due to the excessive number of passengers in stations, 20 times more than in airports, according to the SNCF president Guillaume Pepy.

As to control only a few lines at high speed, or international, it needs to be, “as Eurostar, in a completely closed area. (…) You are either comprehensive or efficiency is low.”

Without dockside monitoring, the shooter was able to enter the Thalys with a veritable arsenal.

In France, gendarmes and soldiers roam the nearly 3,000 stations, gun in hand. This is also the case in Britain, where members of the British Transport Police (BTP) are present at major stations, often armed. But our neighbors across the Channel do not experience either of baggage before boarding a train.

Same in Switzerland or Germany where the Federal Police concluded in 2000 with Deutsche Bahn an agreement providing for exchange of information and video surveillance and prevention activities.

Italian stations, known for their disorganization, submit the passengers since May 1 and from some major stations, to security checks before embark

-. Complicated locations to manage –

Only Spain, deeply marked by the attacks of 11 March 2004 in Madrid that killed 191 people and injured nearly 1,900 in four commuter trains, passenger baggage control of long distance trains, told Spanish public institution responsible for managing the rail network and security in stations, Administrador of infraestructuras FERROVIARIAS (ADIF).

Eurostar, SNCF subsidiary connecting Britain to France, also asks its passengers to arrive half an hour before the train leaves, and made them pass a security check as to airport.

But this is due, firstly, to identity checks to enter the UK, which is not part of the Schengen area, and the necessary safety precautions before to take the Channel Tunnel.

“Stations are places extremely complicated to manage,” because they are “old, much more open” as airports, said Marc Ivaldi, a researcher at the Industrial Economics Institute of Toulouse.

Securing all stations? “In the very short term, it is strictly impossible,” he considers, saying the cost would be astronomical.

Indeed, the expenses related to the installation of barriers and other portals s’ add those induced by essential personnel so that travelers do not queue for hours before boarding.

Marc Ivaldi believes however that “we can not do otherwise than to secure Thalys and a number of TGV “.

For in trains, SNCF agents are not police mission, said the railway company. The actor Jean-Hugues Anglade, who was traveling in the Thalys and was wounded by triggering the alarm, blamed airline staff who, according to him, dropped the passengers.

But the direction of the Thalys contradicted, claiming that agents of the train where the attack took place army, had alerted the driver and one of them had put several passengers away, saying that in French law, the agents must first alert, and then stop the train

08/22/2015 11:03:33 p.m.. – Paris (AFP) – By Julie Chabanas – AFP © 2015