'Train marshals’ on TGVs

Plain-clothed, armed gendarmes have been travelling on TGV trains as part of Interior Ministry tests for US-style ‘train marshals’ to improve security against terror attacks like that in 2015 on the Amsterdam-Paris Thalys train.

Trained by the GIGN ‘swat’ squad, the six gendarmes travelled in pairs and kept out of minor crimes to keep their anonymity and an element of surprise in case of an attack.

The ministry will now decide whether marshals will be used across the network.