Safety fears after station stabbing

Beijing Railway Station said Sunday that they have no plans to upgrade security, after two people were stabbed to death in the early hours of Thursday morning at a ticket office.　

A director from the general office of Beijing Railway Station, surnamed Wang, confirmed the incident with the Global Times on Sunday but refused to give more details.

According to the Beijing Morning Post, the suspect, thought to be from Guangdong Province, allegedly stabbed a man and a woman as they waited to buy tickets at the 2nd ticket office on the outside of the west side of the station. The ticket office was not very busy at the time, the report said.

The suspect has been detained pending further investigation. So far, the victims have not been identified.

When asked if the station intended to beef up security in light of the deaths, Wang said that he has little knowledge about this, since the Ministry of Public Security is responsible for station security.　

A male employee from the station's security office, who asked for anonymity, said Sunday that police are always on patrol in the station. He is confident that security measures are already strong enough.

"This is a single incident that only occurred once in decades," he said, "there is nothing to worry about."

Passengers told the Global Times Sunday that they have concerns over station safety following the incident.

Construction worker Zhang Muyan, from Henan Province, said he was really shocked when he heard the news.

"I know there are sometimes thefts and cheating in that ticket office, but not murder," he said.

"I don't know if the deaths had anything to do with fighting for a place in the queue. But the queues there are normally orderly," Zhang said.

A university student surnamed Wu, from Beijing Normal University, said she feels a bit uncomfortable entering the dimly-lit ticket office.　

"I trust this is an isolated incident, but I still think the ticket office should be better lit and in good order," she said.