Train stations such as Salford Crescent and Manchester Piccadilly are due to have additional security following the travel secretary’s promise to increase safety measures following a train stabbing.
Travel secretary Heidi Alexander has said the government will “review security arrangements” following the incident which left 11 people hospitalized on Saturday night.
Alongside CCTV, staff presence and ticket gates, train stations are said to be taking additional security measures to ensure passenger safety following the knife attack which took place on a train from Doncaster to London.
Stations across the country such as Salford Crescent and Manchester Piccadilly have made an effort to add additional security due to the tragic stabbing.
Heidi Alexander has said that British Transport Police (BTP) will take on more visible patrols at train stations and improved CCTV will be introduced with facial recognition technology. This will all allow for passengers to feel less fear following on from the attack.
I took a train from Salford Crescent to Manchester Piccadilly at 1:35pm yesterday to see these additional security measures being implemented myself.
When arriving at Salford Crescent, I spoke to the workers at the ticket gate. This is what one of them had to say.
Arriving at Salford Crescent there was no additional security I could see.
When speaking to passengers on the train they had said they had not seen any additional security during their travels either.
Arriving in Manchester Piccadilly, two police officers were seen at the platform entrance on their patrols.
Additionally, police cars and vans were seen outside of the station. This was to be expected however due to a stabbing of a 13 year old boy that took place in front of Piccadilly Station six days ago.
Here is what the police had to say.
With all these security measure taking place, questions have been raised about regulating station platforms which aren’t protected by any security measures.
Platforms in which you don’t need a ticket to enter the platform are difficult to regulate and dont allow for passenger safety measures. Therefore will need more effort to keep safe and secure.