smurof

Going London to Brussels and back by Eurostar because I don't want to put up with being forced to go through an X-RAY nudie-scanner at an airports.

Anyone know if the Eurostar stations have X-ray scanners for people (don't mind pat-downs or my bags being scanned by X-rays, do mind my privates being X-ray scanned).

Cheers

Simon

YVR Cockroach

Not in mid June but who knows what the paranoia level has increased to now.

tonywestsider

smurof,

Welcome to Flyertalk!

Eurostar stations do not have scanners yet. OTOH, it's a completely different story if you are traveling on rail in Spain. Fortunately, their scanners scan your luggage and not you.

stut

Eurostar currently has WTMD for people and x-ray scanners for luggage. The passenger experience is similar to airport security pre-Lockerbie.

tonywestsider

That's right. I do remember the WTMD machines at Eurostar stations. No nudo-scopes yet, though.

paulwuk

I always considered it an anomaly until visiting China last year. The Beijing metro has baggage xray machines, as does the entrance to Tienanmen square (not sure how you'd hide a tank in a bag though ), which was a bit of a shock.

Noone has ever legitimately managed to tell me why there is such theatre on Eurostar. What are they looking for? Especially with the metal detector?
1) Large knives are allowed though anyway, fishing etc.
2) The tunnel's had exploding lorries close it before, and you can drive your car though laden with bombs if you're keen to try to make a dent in the tunnel. The number of cars pulled aside last time I drove through was tiny. If
3) Even if an xray machine would pick up small backpack bombs, there are much more lucrative targets like the underground at rush hour, or the queue for the xray machine. A backpack-sized bomb would kill half a dozen people at most.

So that leaves guns. Are they worried someone will take a small handgun and shoot people in the tunnel? Rather than do the same anywhere else in the country?

At least with planes there's the argument about hijacking, but a hijacked eurostar can't do a lot when they turn the power off.

Unfortunately when this conversation comes up at work people just come out with non-sequitors like "you need to be xrayed, you're leaving the country".

As for those that ask "what harm is there"? Aside from the hassle (at least there's no shoe-removal needed), the xray machine at Brussels cost me £400 a couple of years ago -- my car key dropped out of my coat pocket while being pushed through the machine, unnoticed by me until a week later when I tried to use it. Had to get the car towed to the dealer, and a new key.

Sherwood Hampton

Bombs.


That was due to a fire and not terrorism related. All people got out safe before the fire caused serious damage. I'd like to see people get out safely after a catastrophic explosion caused by a truck bomb. This is why the lorries go through an X ray machine before boarding the trains.


Why don't you give it a try if you're that confident? Cars are tested for traces of explosives.

paulwuk

Right, so a metal detector can detect bombs? No need for the radiation booths at airports then.

There are 3 sizes of bombs
1) Those that can fit on one's person. These will be tiny, and kill maybe a few people immediately around the explosion. These are best used in crowded areas like rush hour tube trains, queues, concerts etc. The panic will injure and terrify more.

A fire is a fire, it's the smoke and fumes that kill.

So a bomb needs to be as big as a lorry to cause any real damage. Unlikely to fit in someone's luggage.

Why do lorries need an xray then? Why not simply trace for explosives like cars (I understand gasoline vapour is very explosive, so I assume it's certain types of explosives, but they certainly don't do things like swabbing the inside of cars).

On the other hand, this test must be passive, there was no obvious testing occurring to my car 3 hours ago when travelling from Calais. Why can't passengers luggage have the same test?

So, asuming
1) there's a device that can detect, from afar, any explosives in a car (but not a lorry or a bag)
2) even a suitcase-sized bomb is enough to cause unusual effects in the Tunnel that you don't get in any other tunnel (either train or road, like Øresund or Seikan), the other tunnels not needing the secuirty farce that eurostar pass

Why do we need people to go through metal detectors?

crescatfloreat

i think the simple answer is: they wanted to make the eurostar experience similar to the experience of taking a plane.

lounges. shopping. segregation from hoi polloi on standard trains. "security".

al

mareh

Any updates to the original question? I'm also considering RT Eurostar from Paris to London later this year for the same reason as the OP.

KQ321

I've been through Eurostar security in London and Brussels in recent months, but not Paris. IIRC, there are X-ray scanners for baggage (at Brussels Midi, they're floor-level, and a reasonable size for suitcases to pass through; at St Pancras, they're more like the hand-baggage scanners at airport (waist level, and a bit smaller than those in Brussels) which makes getting suitcases through them a bit harder). There are walk-through metal detectors for pax, but I don't recall seeing any sign of X-ray scanners for humans.

That said, the St Pancras security area is quite wide, so it's possible I missed something in a different queue - and with the Olympics coming up, who knows what they'll decide to put in....

Actually they do (or did) - but not for all cars, just for a small number, on a 'random' basis. On a couple of occasions (years ago), I've been in cars going on Le Shuttle that were pulled aside, and swabbed for explosives (in a similar way to how baggage is sometimes swabbed for explosives at some airports).

BAAZ

There are walk-through metal detectors and x-ray baggage scanners at Paris too. (The staff manning the scanners react very quickly to pax trying to put their hands into the machine, e.g. to lay a bag down flat that is already on the belt, explaining that there are x-rays and they shouldn't go near the machines.)

The immigration/baggage scanner area is being enlarged in Paris to cope with the increase in traffic and the long queues at passport control that result. I hope (but don't expect) that the EU-EEA-CH / non-EU-EEA-CH lines will be properly policed. Admittedly, even at peak times the wait is not so bad compared with an airport.

In the UK you are asked to remove your overcoat but not your jacket. In Paris you can walk through the metal detector with an overcoat on. I usually do, and as long as I am not wearing a belt or carrying coins, the detector does not go off; it seems to be on a less sensitive setting than the ones in airports.

In addition, on arrival in London a dozen or so customs agents watch the passengers arriving; if there is a tipoff that there may be drug smugglers, then sniffer dogs are deployed. And there are notices up warning that you can be prosecuted if you have pepper spray or knife on you (and if those items hadn't already been spotted in Paris or wherever).

A fair proportion of the cars are checked, especially single drivers - I am almost never stopped when travelling as a couple, but if I'm on my own with the back seat piled high with wine I am stopped about half the time. When stopped, you have to open the boot and the bonnet of the car, and the luggage and engine compartment are swabbed and the swab analysed while another customs agent inspects the rest of the car. It is very quick and usually only takes a couple of minutes (unless I suppose they find something). The swab is for checking for explosives and drugs (on one occasion I was travelling with my 12-year-old son who asked the question).

EvolIntent

Hello,
I'm sorry to up that thread but I just found it and i'd like to know if this is still the same for the x-rays on luggages and metal detector on people in the eurostar ?
Or do you now have to go through x-rays yourself ?
I'm traveling London to Paris.
Thank you

ExpatExp

Have people ever been intentionally x-rayed in transport security situations?

There are no millimeter wave scanners for Eurostar passengers, if that was in question

exilencfc

There's a WTMD and a luggage x-ray but no nudie scan and I don't think they do many pat-downs or bag searches. Pretty low hassle really