Security Managers, as part of their employee security awareness programme, should periodically remind staff who commute by rail of the dangers of congregating on large station concourses, such as those found in major cities like London. In some stations irresponsible railway company practice of not publishing platform departure details until the final minutes before train departure exacerbates this problem as it creates a very compact and attractive target immediately in front of the large display screens.While police presence has been dramatically stepped up in these areas, this presents little defence against a suicide attack. Staff should be advised to choose more remote, less congregated, areas in which to wait for trains, and to remain vigilant to anybody behaving suspiciously.
The potential devastation to human life of a railway station bomb was illustrated on August 2, 1980, when a bomb explosion at the Central Station in Bologna, Italy, killed 85 people and wounded a further 200.
