Underground to get five bars

I promised myself that I wouldn't refer to the popularisation of terrorist-paranoia when I started to write this post, and I'll try to stick to that.  Only it's tricky when you're faced with Transport for London, governing body of the tube trains, claiming that due in no small part to concerns of passengers regarding Underground bombings they're implementing a trial of cellphone network repeaters to make sure you always have coverage.

How exactly is that going to help?  Okay, so you could ring the police if you saw someone acting suspiciously, but then they'd have to somehow get to wherever that particular train was and stop it, all before a twitchy terrorist pulled the rip-cord and set off their semtex.  In fact the only thing vaguely to do with bombings I can think of is remotely triggering them via a rigged-up cellphone, as already happens in Iraq.

Still, I'm sure there will be happy people, relieved that now they needn't go five minutes without being able to text-message their friends and chat inanely.  The trial will begin on the Waterloo and City lines, as well as Waterloo and Bank stations, and be monitored to check whether it's commercially viable.

Frankly I'd think the Underground would be a haven away from cellular bleatings, but such is "progression", eh?

Transport for London [via Mad4MobilePhones]