Tube station tests anti-bomb kit

The tests were announced in November last year

Equipment which can detect explosives on skin, clothes and tickets, is to be tested at a Tube station.

For the next four weeks, an X-ray machine at Canary Wharf station on the Jubilee Line in east London will also test passengers' bags.

It has generally been accepted by Tube bosses and ministers that it would not be possible to use airport-style screening on open transport systems.

But it has been decided that some security measures should be tested.

A small number of randomly-chosen people will be asked if they mind taking part in the trial.

Scanner 'room'

The trial is expected to have a minimal effect on the flow of people through the station.

Last November, former Transport Secretary Alistair Darling announced that trials of security equipment would be carried out at underground and mainline stations.

An experiment was carried out at Paddington station where passengers walked through a large scanner 'room'. The results are still being assessed.

Some 52 people were killed when three bombs exploded on the London Underground network and a fourth on a bus last July.