Monday, April 3, 2017

St. Petersburg Subway Explosion: Deadly Blast on Russian Train Wounds Dozens

A bomb blast on a subway train in St. Petersburg, Russia, killed at least 10 people and wounded some 39 others Monday, Russian officials said, in what President Vladimir Putin called a possible act of terror. Trains and train stations have been common targets for terrorist attacks in Russia and throughout much of Europe, analysts point out. St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city with more than 5 million residents, is the country's most popular tourist destination. The two stations that were the site of the blast are some of the subway's busiest.  This made me think of the Amtrak stations in Kalamazoo and, more specifically, Chicago Union Station.  Chicago Union is a major train hub for commuters all over the country, with over 100,000 passengers per day. There is limited to no security within the station and getting onto the Amtrak. You simply hand your ticket to the conductor and get on the train.  Incidents such as the one in Russia bring to light the lack of security in train stations.

Why are train stations treated so much differently than airports?

Why do train stations have such little security clearance?

Any other thoughts?

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russian-media-st-petersburg-metro-station-hit-blast-n741961

5 comments:

  1. Train stations, especially the ones located in big cities, see so many travelers each day that it has been difficult to properly screen each person properly. Since we've seen an increase in acts of terror in train stations, I think steps need to be taken to at least force passengers to pass through a metal detector.

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  2. The incident in Russia, and the seemingly frequent acts of terror that have occurred throughout the world as of recently, are all very tragic and frightening. Despite this, in the United States the lifetime odd that an American dies due to a terror attack is 1 in 45,808. This is compared with 1 in 7 for heart disease, 1 in 565 for a car accident and 1 in 30,863 for an accident with a sharp object. Although it is convenient and intriguing to talk of the threat of terrorism, should adding security to train stations really be the focus of our attention and tax dollars?
    http://www.businessinsider.com/death-risk-statistics-terrorism-disease-accidents-2017-1

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  3. I agree with Zoe about how we need to consider the actual chances of Americans dying in an terrorist attack. Certainly, the media has a big impact as terrorist attacks are sensationalized for a number of days attributing to a heightened sense of feeling frightened.
    In responding to Brad's question, I am not exactly sure why trains have limited security clearance but if we do happen to have a terrorist attack on trains in the future, I would expect a TSA-like security implemented for train stations.

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  4. Acts of terror are usually targeted towards certain groups of people to make a political statement, and I think the demographics of train station crowds in places like Kalamazoo and Chicago would probably not fall into the "preferred" targets for terrorists.

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  5. I agree with Adam's comment. A metal detector or some security check should be placed in metro stations. I have to bring up China again, from just my personal view, I feel so much safer in China even though we have significant larger population and surely more crowds taking metros. But every station has multiple security checks before you entered into the stations. If you have some beverage with you, the securities will ask you drink it in front of the security people. I think security checks make a great difference in responding to terrorists.

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