Anyone who has been to China, to the likes of Beijing or Shanghai, can agree on one thing… these cities have a ridiculous amount of people, and nowhere does this become more apparent than during rush hour, on the metro system.
Both rank in the top 3 cities proper by population and take the top two spots in terms of the world’s busiest metros, each surpassing 3 billion passengers in the year 2015 alone. Clearly, given the enormous sums of people using the metro each day, speed and efficiency are key priorities to the Chinese officials when it comes to getting passengers through the stations, on-board the trains and reaching their destinations. Hence, innovations such as contactless access technology (similar to Oyster cards), and barriers at the platform to prevent delays from people getting trapped in doors or more unfortunate situations, are prevalent throughout the Chinese metro system, lots of investment has been made to help things move along smoothly.
It may then, come as a surprise to anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of using the Chinese metro system (as it did to me during my first visit in 2014), that both Beijing and Shanghai metro systems utilise personal baggage checking machines, similar to those found in an airport. Each and every passenger carrying any kind of bag, briefcase or suitcase, is subject to placing it on the conveyor belt, for it to be passed through the machine, X-rayed and observed by an official, before it can be picked up on the other side, and the passenger can continue on their journey. (In fact I believe this is the same across most Chinese cities with a metro system, all those I visited had them in place).
Now, unlike an airport where passengers are accustomed to turning up a few hours before their flight and security check is typically a small factor of an overall lengthy journey, this process in a metro setting would seem to add significant interference to the requirement for a fast and efficient flow of people through the station. However, these stations, the busiest in the world, process millions of passengers per day, and everyone (despite being packed into a train like sardines) gets to their destination with little disruption or delay.
On returning to the UK, I am now a regular user of the London Underground, and occasionally think back to my days in Shanghai, Beijing etc. and wonder about the security of the capital’s public transport. Of course, we cannot forget the tragic events of the 7th of July 2005, and yesterday’s metro attacks in Brussels have brought this question freshly back into my mind.
Why are these security systems not common place, if the busiest stations in the world can do it, why can’t we?
I'm talking primarily about London here, I've never used the Brussels metro and cannot confirm the security situation, although I have used the metro in other EU countries such as Germany, and some years back in the US, namely, New York. To my memory China is the only place where I personally have been required to go through this security process, I may be wrong, and I'm sure there’s others elsewhere, but London doesn't and that’s the topic here…
Obviously I am oversimplifying the problem here by focussing on the high numbers of passengers on the China metro system, while the added delay of security checks would be an annoyance to many of us Brits, there are other likely more significant challenges that are preventing the use of these processes, not least, the cost and practicality of implementing such a system.
The former speaks for itself, the cost of the machines (typically ~ £10,000+ each) to be installed at every underground station, at every entrance, and the 2–3 staff required per machine to ensure people are using the scanner, monitor the display and take action on anything of question (some say staff numbers are the main problem). It’s no cheap fix and the money has to come from somewhere. The latter though, is arguably the bigger issue, London’s underground is at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to upgrades in general, being the world’s first and oldest, there‘s no shortage of restrictions to what can feasibly be implemented, take the challenge of step-free disabled access for example. There are many stations I pass through where I can envisage the scanners in place, however there are also a number where it’s hard to imagine. It’s no use having 75% or even 95% of stations fitted, any malicious actor could utilise the few stations without scanners and work the system to reach their target, it’s an all or nothing solution and maybe that’s why we don’t see them in place today.
So, I acknowledge that it’s no simple issue, but the question remains, what can be done to prevent repeat of these attacks? Are baggage scanners the answer? Is it just a matter of investment? What alternatives are there to improve security on London’s Underground?
Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed are personal and do not represent the views or opinions of any company or organisation.
