The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Tackling terror on the tracks

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Friday, Jul 21, 2006

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Opinion - News Analysis

Tackling terror on the tracks

V. Jayanth

Railway security is a complex issue that often derails on the knotty question of jurisdiction.

THE SERIAL blasts in Mumbai have once again focussed attention on the problems in protecting the vast railway network and rolling stock. The Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Government Railway Police (GRP) are the two agencies with the responsibility. The RPF's task is to protect Railway property and assets, while the GRP handles crime and law and order along the network. Where they cannot deal with a crime or an act of sabotage, the State police concerned take over the investigations.

Railway security is a complex issue that often derails on the knotty question of jurisdiction. Delays are inevitable while such issues are sorted out. The GRP provides security on moving trains, protecting passengers and their belongings. Issues of jurisdiction — inter-region, inter-State — are the cause of much frustration for the public when it comes to crimes on moving trains.

Says a former Inspector-General of the GRP: "Providing security to trains, stations and passengers has been a herculean task to our limited numbers. You can take a major railway junction as a typical example — look at the number of entrances and exits. Look at the way passengers rush at the last minute to board even a moving train. How can they ever be put through a complete security check? A few door frames or metal detectors will not do. Plastic explosives cannot easily be detected."

There is nothing like 60 per cent or 70 per cent security — it is either 100 per cent or nothing at all. A criminal, and more so a terrorist, plans his or her operation very well. There are any number of dry runs or rehearsals before the plan is executed.

Police sources explain that in peak hour traffic, passengers tend to look after their own possessions — bags, purses, mobile phones, and the rest. They hardly have the time to observe fellow passengers, who board and disembark. "It is quite likely that a criminal or terrorist can board a train, leave an explosive-packed parcel or even a pipe bomb, and get off at the next station. The explosive can be remote controlled or fitted with a timing device," says an Additional Director-General of Police.

It is one thing for the Railways and the State police to step up vigil at major stations or even screen passengers boarding trains. But what about smaller stations? People are free to hop on to moving trains with their luggage, and this includes vendors as well. A terrorist can easily pass off as a vendor, board a train, move on if it is vestibuled and leave the "parcel" where he has been asked to and get off the train undetected. Both the State police and the GRP insist the best person to identify an unclaimed parcel or notice a suspicious passenger is certainly the regular commuter.

Though they do not want to give the impression of passing the buck, these police sources say that commuters and passengers must be wary of "suspicious people and suspicious parcels."

They can tip off the RPF or GRP personnel at the station or in the train itself, without challenging the suspicious person. Only a higher level of alertness and a vigilant eye for such objects, especially when they are left behind by passengers, can help prevent disaster. The same analogy can be extended to any public place such as a shopping mall, market or even a bus stand.

Matters are worse for local trains as seats are not reserved. So it is not easy to identify passengers. Similarly, a railway station does not have the closed precincts of an airport. These basic differences make it well nigh impossible for any security apparatus to pick up terrorist activity on the railways.

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