Brussels, 09/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - Training of staff, putting in place an emergency plan and sharing good practice seem to be the three short- and medium-term measures that have won the backing of European ministers, said Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc following the Transport Council on Thursday 8 October.
“Discussions have been fruitful. … We have come to agreement on a number of conclusions”, she said at the press conference (our translation). The measures set out are consistent with the position adopted by the European Commission and the member states in the wake of the failed terrorist attack on 21 August: implementation of differentiated measures tailored to assess risk and threat levels in line with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality (see EUROPE 11388). Bulc repeated what has already been said in the past: the intrusive security checking system that operates in air travel cannot be simply transferred to the rail sector, which has its own specific and very different characteristics.
The commissioner added that the first step would be to put in place a framework for sharing good practice among member states and improving the system for sharing information among national intelligence services.
Security plans, or security programmes, should be adapted to the particular situation of each member state and also of each station and rail service. Programmes should contain simulation exercises along with plans for the swift resumption of rail services in the event of an attack. Special training should be given to new staff when they join and at regular intervals thereafter.
Bulc also highlighted, over lunch, the need of video-surveillance in stations and on trains. Speaking at the press conference, she said, too, that technological innovations and progress must be used to improve checks in stations and on board trains.
The Commission plans to open an impact study on the various measures announced and will report on the findings in summer 2016, a source close to the matter revealed. These measures are in no way a surprise, corresponding closely, as they do, to those discussed on 11 September at the meeting of land transport security experts, LANDSEC, (see EUROPE 11388). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)