After Saturday evening’s mass stabbing onboard a train travelling from Doncaster to London, rail services have seen increased security.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander promised more visible police patrols at mainline stations over the following days.
In order to reassure passengers, officers would be present across key stations in the UK.
She said: ‘I do understand that people will want to feel reassured following what happened.
‘Thankfully incidents like this on the public transport network are very, very rare.’
She added: ‘We are investing in improved CCTV in stations and the Home Office will soon be launching a consultation on more facial recognition technology which could be deployed in stations as well.’
Fears have grown around the potential need for more security on trains in the long term, however stricter enforcement could be difficult for rail services.
Earlier this week, the Transport Secretary criticised the possibility of implementing ‘airport-style’ scanners at train stations.
She said metal-detector scanners at train stations would ‘make life impossible’ for passengers.
Ms Alexander has reassured passengers of the safety of trains, saying: ‘Our trains are some of the most safest forms of public transport anywhere in the world. For every one million passenger journeys that are made, there are 27 crimes.’
With the exception of London St Pancras International, no UK station has airport-style security.
It has been argued implementing stricter security on trains would be extremely difficult, and labelled ‘virtually impossible’ by travel correspondent Simon Calder.
He wrote in The Independent: ‘There is not the space, the money nor the willingness to search passengers on UK domestic trains prior to boarding. So why not get more staff on board?’
He added that the stabbing took place on an intercity train with onboard crew.
Simon explained: ‘In a perfect world, a British Transport Police officer would patrol every train. Better still: one in every carriage.
‘But financially that would be ruinous. The railways currently cost the taxpayer £400 per second in subsidy. Agreed, having greater reassurance about safety would encourage more people to travel by train.
‘But with the Department for Transport (DfT) facing cuts in this month’s budget, increasing spending on security simply isn’t in prospect.’
He also added trains are very safe, and the death toll of rail passengers is extremely low.
This is notable especially in comparison to flight safety, as planes can be particularly vulnerable to incidents such as hijacking.
According to date from the Office of Rail and Road, there were just 14 non-workforce fatalities (passenger or public) in the year April 2024 to March 2025.
