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by caprese 2603 days ago
High speed trains go through city centers and are vulnerable to bombs
2 comments

Yes, but it's hard to use a train the way the 9/11 attacks used planes. They were able to take the planes and magnify the damage, casualties, and spectacle and they had a high degree of freedom in picking targets. Much harder to pull that off with a train; you'd make the news, but not stun the world.
I have never understood why, post 9/11, planes were not modified to remove the cabin to cockpit door, and make the cockpit door a separate entrance. This would more or less completely remove the possibility of a second 9/11 attack, and would render airplanes no more attractive a target than any other group of several hundred people.
That might be inconvenient, because aircraft staff sometimes needs to talk to pilots or make them sign some documents.
Also, the pilots would need their own bathroom.
The cockpit door was reinforced and can’t be easily broken down now. That has achieved effectively the same thing.
Pilots need access to a toilette, but also there are rare cases where pilots need to look out of side windows. There's also flights with crew changes. And the very rare case of crew incapacitation. A case where a pilot needed to gain access to the cockpit but couldn't, Germanwings Flight 9525.
Likely cheaper to make a tougher door than build a new entrance and moving arm for people thing.
How is that any different than roads and sidewalks?