The peril of the daily commute

By Jonathan Duffy in London and Laurie Macgregor in Berlin
BBC News Online

The rush-hour bomb attacks on Spanish trains are a brutal reminder of how workers can become targets for militants simply by joining the morning commute.

Security measures are included at London stations such as Waterloo

In Madrid almost 200 people died when 10 bombs exploded on three trains on Thursday. In February, 39 commuters were killed on the Moscow underground in what is thought to have been a suicide bomb attack.

Earlier this month, a French newspaper revealed how a terrorist group had been trying to blackmail the French government by threatening to explode bombs on the national rail network.

Inevitably, the question for some commuters in other European cities is: could they be next?

Since the 11 September 2001 attacks on America, security chiefs in the UK have warned that a major terrorist strike on Britain is not a question of "if", but "when".

In that time, aviation security in Britain has been significantly tightened. But, on the railways, the sort of time-consuming checks that passengers undergo before a flight are virtually unthinkable.

Indeed, some suggest that because airline security has become more watertight, bombers intent on inflicting a high body count have turned to the railways instead. Both the Madrid and Moscow strikes took place in morning rush hour, when carriages were most likely to be packed with passengers.

In London alone, four million people use the Tube and overground rail networks daily. That makes an ideal stage for terrorists, according to former Scotland Yard commander Rob Ramm.

"Terrorism is about bringing the most fear to the highest number of people. That's why the transport system is vulnerable," says Mr Ramm.

Station redesign

Yet some experts argue that experience gained from fighting the IRA threat in the 1970s and 80s has made Britain's transport network at least better placed to guard against such attacks.

Over 20 years, the IRA mounted more than a dozen attacks on the Underground and rail networks. As recently as 1997, it was blamed for throwing the railways into chaos after a series of coded bomb threats.

The Madrid attacks led to extra security elsewhere, including in Athens

Parts of London's Tube network have been redesigned to minimise chances of a bomb left undetected. Platform seats are fixed to the wall, allowing a clear space underneath; litter bins have been taken out; vending machines have sloping tops to prevent anything being left on top.

Rail security in Britain is under constant review. The British Transport Police, which has more than 2,200 officers looking after 10,000 miles of track, says it is monitoring the situation in Madrid but there will be no change in security at this time.

Meanwhile in Germany, Interior Minister Otto Schily has been warning since the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington of the threat to his country of international terrorism.

Die Spiegel is reporting that there is a cross-party agreement that security should be stepped up in train stations in the event that the attack in Madrid is confirmed to be the work of international terrorists.

Unlike in Britain, there are litter bins in German stations which could easily conceal a bomb. They do have security guards, but they tend to keep a low profile.

Germany was very much against the war in Iraq. But that does not mean that its citizens feel immune to attack by Islamic fundamentalists, especially as it is suspected that such extremists are active in Germany.