Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Russia to equip railways with antiterrorist attack detectors

RIA Novosti

12:01 04/12/2009 MOSCOW, December 4 (RIA Novosti) - A group of Russian scientists has developed detectors to prevent terrorist attacks on Russian railways, a former Russian railways engineers research institute head told Russian Channel 1 television on Friday.

According to Viktor Poplavsky, the detectors will use the Global Navigation Satellite System (Glonass), the Russian equivalent of the U.S. Global Positioning System, or GPS, and is designed for both military and civilian use. Both systems allow users to determine an object's position to within a few meters.

The statement came after last week's terrorist attack on the Nevsky Express high speed train between Moscow and St. Petersburg.

This week the Russian Railways company said that a railway linking Moscow and St. Petersburg will be equipped with a video monitoring system within five years.