France adds armed train marshals, green-lit to shoot
PARIS - The head of the French national rail service said Sunday that train marshals, armed and allowed to use their weapons, will be patrolling some passenger trains, one of a series of new security measures being implemented there and across the continent in response to a series of European terror attacks.
Guillaume Pepy said on iTele TV on Sunday that the marshals will be in civilian dress, chosen from the SNCF train authority's 3,000 security agents and trained for the task.
Among other measures, a team of profilers will survey some of the 40,000 train station cameras for suspicious behavior, and security portals in some stations will add arms and explosives detection.
The November Paris attacks added to security concerns already prevalent after a radical tried to carry out an attack on a train last August that was aborted by three American travelers.
Travel in Europe is undergoing major changes in the wake of a series of terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists on the continent.
In Brussels, where suicide bombers blew themselves up in the ticketing area of the airport, officials will need months to restore the pre-attack arrival and departures numbers. Additionally, police are now conducting spot checks of vehicles before they arrive, and a large white tent was set up outside the terminal to screen IDs and travel documents before allowing anyone to enter the building. A drop-off parking area outside the terminal has been closed.
There will be no access by rail or public transport to the airport for the foreseeable future.
The terrorist attacks in Paris, in addition to the massive influx of migrants from the Mideast, have also closed down Europe's famous "Schengen" open-border policy. Almost every country now has border controls, whereas previously EU passport holders could pass freely and undeterred between nations.