Brussels, 28/09/2005 (Agence Europe) -Expert members of the International Union of Public Transport (IUPT), who had come from Europe, Australia and Asia, took part in a week-long visit to the United States (Boston, NYC and Washington DC), for an exchange of information and best practice in terms of day-to-day and anti-terrorist security on public transport (see EUROPE 9033). Staff training, awareness campaigns, the design of stations and vehicles, tightening up patrols, the use of dogs to sniff out explosives, detection and surveillance camera systems, random searches and cooperation with the emergency services were all highlighted. Public transport operators have concentrated on their main responsibility, which is to develop prevention measures, put internal emergency plans into place, precisely laying down the jobs and responsibilities of all involved and, most importantly, making sure that traffic can get back to normal as soon as possible ("back to business"). Cooperation with the forces of order and the emergency services is indispensable, particularly as terrorists' strategies change quickly, but the operators do not carry out the risk assessment themselves, even though they develop highly effective surveillance systems.
The director of the environment and security department of the RATP (Régie Autonome des Transports de Paris), Alain Caire, was able to note that the Europeans are ahead of the United States in terms of training exercises and the use of surveillance systems. The Americans outstrip the Europeans in chemical detection systems, but Mr Caire "was not 'bowled over' by these installations, which is probably because the European networks handle far more traffic" (4 million passengers a day in New York, compared to 7 million in Paris). But the European networks are in themselves very different, in terms of capacity, modernisation of the infrastructures and organisation, which is why the European operators want the EU's action in terms of public transport safety and security to respect the principle of subsidiarity. The European Commission granted 3.5 million EUR to the European project COUNTERACT for 2006-2007, which aims to propose the most economic solutions to improve the safety of passengers and of infrastructures to the national security agencies.
The lessons to be drawn from the attacks in London on 7 July will be presented by the body in charge of London public transport, Transport of London, at a conference to be held in London on 13 and 15 November.