The Huntingdon train stabbings terrify me - 1 thing is needed to protect passengers

I can only imagine the fear passengers onboard the 18.25 train from Doncaster to London Kings Cross felt when they realised that a man wielding a knife and alleged murderous intent was making his way through their service's carriages. Like some of the travellers, I too would probably have assumed at first that it was a Halloween prank. Some TikTokers attempting some sort of public stunt, perhaps.

Having sold my car a few months after moving to London from the Midlands a few years ago, I travel on the train an awful lot, both within the capital and across the country for work and pleasure. I am simply dependent on them. Over the weekend, it struck me that the LNER train forced to make an emergency stop at Huntingdon, is basically the same as the Avanti West Coast locomotive I take northwards to visit family.

I found myself wondering what I would have done if I had found myself in the middle of the same sort of carnage.

At the best of times, a range of factors can make me feel uneasy while sitting in a carriage.

They are such enclosed spaces, with tiny aisles and only two exit points, and you have no idea who the people travelling with you are.

Britain feels more dangerous than at any other point in my admittedly relatively short 27-year existence.

I do find myself observing my surroundings more closely when out and about, and this is commonsensical in my view, given the sort of hideous things that have happened to innocent members of the public of late.

But what can be done to better safeguard Brits as they go about their lives?

We obviously have to be wary of cloaking people in bubble wrap.

Life is inevitably dangerous, and we are to some extent taking a risk whenever we exit the house.

But not attempting to mitigate a risk deemed high enough to pose a significant enough danger to people's lives on a regular basis could reasonably be judged to be irresponsible.

If the police, after reflecting on their investigation into what happened on Saturday, think something similar could easily and plausibly happen again, they must surely consider how rail customers could be better protected.

I'd suggest looking at China, whose high-speed railway services require passengers to pass through a security check before boarding.

A friend of mine recently told me that it was fairly quick and easy.

Travellers have to pass through an initial gate using a passport, or digital ticket, before being examined by a security scanner.

There are another set of gates to access the platform, which may also require a passport check for foreigners.

You would not need to check people's passports at British stations, in my opinion.

But a simple security gate that scans for potentially dangerous objects would reassure customers, as well as help emergency services and railway staff keep us safe.

It wouldn't be too intrusive, and lives would be saved.

Sure, it would be inconvenient, but the same is thought of security at airports.

Nowadays, I doubt many people would feel comfortable getting on a plane without any of their fellow travellers having been checked.

A quick lookover at railway stations - whether this is just at major interchanges or at every stop - would quickly become the norm.