If you live in a city with a light rail system, your ticket may one day help to detect explosives on your hands.

Many travellers have grudgingly accepted the longer security lines at airports since September 11th, when a myriad of new security measures and standards were implemented in Canada.

However, it hasn’t been easy to apply the same standards to public transit systems in big cities. This is despite events such as the 2005 coordinated suicide attacks in London’s public transport system and the bombs planted in Madrid trains in 2004, which have highlighted the need to increase public transit security.

“Public transit is an important service, valued for its speed and convenience,” says Ron Gabruck, Director of Safety and Security for the Edmonton Transit System. “No one wants to wait a long time for a bus or subway. A major challenge we have had over the past decade is to balance this efficiency with the need to keep travellers safe.” 

A security system being developed for testing in Edmonton’s light rail system could keep hold-ups to a minimum while helping transit authorities to respond quickly to high-priority terrorist threats.

“Prevention and early detection are keys to public safety in this current climate,” says Gabruck. “To this end, this detection technology is a progressive and useful initiative. Quite quickly, it enables us to detect improvised explosive devices and other weapons, thereby deterring and preventing attacks or threats.” 

The Radiological and Explosives Agent Security System project ? a partnership between Health Canada and public and private sector organizations ' has two main components. One is a radiation sensor in the ticket vending machine that allows scanning of both ticket purchasers as well as patrons passing by. It’s sensitive enough to detect someone who has had a nuclear medicine procedure (such as cancer treatment), but also smart enough to know the difference between that and someone carrying illicit radioactive material.

Transit authorities will be immediately alerted to any passengers who arouse suspicion, either for illicit sources of radiological materials or for contamination with explosives.

The second component focuses on the validation machines in which passengers must insert their ticket before entering the train station platform, and enables the recognition of several types of explosive compounds within a matter of seconds.

“The ticket vending and validation machines will operate as they do now,” says Patrick Parent, who is leading the project at Health Canada. “The only difference will be that, during the project, they will have embedded cutting-edge radiation and explosives detection technologies.” 

Transit authorities will be immediately alerted to any passengers who arouse suspicion, either for illicit sources of radiological materials or for contamination with explosives. Authorities can then mitigate any attack by following procedures which may include following the passenger on security cameras, taking measures to subdue the person, or preventing the next train or bus from stopping at the station.

For the security community, including police, emergency personnel and first responders, the project tests how well the community can detect and monitor explosives and radiological material. When the project winds up, public transit operators in Canada will have new data and knowledge that can be applied to increasing the security of public transit system riders.

“This is a collaborative science and technology project with potentially great hands-on impact,” says Marc Roy of Defence Research and Development Canada - Centre for Security Science, which is funding the project. “By bringing together the right people with the right expertise, we’re making public transit systems a lot safer for Canadians.”

ISSN 1927-0275 = Dimensions (Ottawa. Online)