Public views sought on railway station security

How far should stations go to ensure your security? A European research project involving the University of Sheffield is giving public transport users the chance to inform new guidelines to help make our stations more secure. The SecureStation project is looking at how to reduce the risks of general crime, fire, and the extreme of a terrorist attack, and is asking the public's views on different security measures. Anyone over the age of 18 who uses public transport can complete an online survey ( www.securestation.eu/survey.html ) covering issues such as staffing levels, CCTV, lighting, public announcements, reporting of suspicious packages, time to access platforms, cost, comfort, luggage restrictions and baggage screening. The aim is to find out the priorities of the travelling public in designing an efficient and secure transport system. "Changes to increase security often go unnoticed by the public, but some can be more intrusive, perhaps bringing delay or a loss of privacy," said Dr David Fletcher from the University of Sheffield's Faculty of Engineering, one of the UK partners in the project. "Working across the EU we're finding out which station security options have greatest public acceptability, so we're asking for input from transport users to find out what people really think." Work is also taking place with transport operators across the EU to find out the business consequences of different security options, and current guidelines across different counties are being compared.