French plans to install airport-style security gates at some stations to prevent terror attacks on cross-border trains will be largely pointless because Germany and Holland have no plans to do the same.
The plan was announced last month after a man on a Thalys high-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris tried to open fire on passengers with a Kalashnikov.
The gates are due be placed by the end of next week on platforms in Lille and Paris used by the Thalys trains that link France with Brussels, Amsterdam, Cologne in Germany and several other intermediate cities.
Segolène Royal, the French ecology minister who also has responsibility for transport, has said Belgian, German and Dutch authorities will also install the gates, which one British rail expert has described as “security theatre” that will do nothing to prevent further attacks.
Read more: French plans for anti-terror security gates in train stations ‘won’t stop terrorists’