A new MetroCard is being designed to spot riders on New York's transportation system who recently handled explosives.
The new technology will allow the vending machines selling the cards to also alert authorities when a potential terrorist is lurking by instantly locking the turnstiles, reports the New York Daily News.
The machine will be able to detect whether the potential straphanger who just touched the start button or screen has recently handled explosives, the report said.
The alerts, which will include a digital image of the person at the machine and the type of substance detected, will be quickly transmitted to authorities, say the companies developing the system.
"This explosive-detection system may be implemented as the first line of defense against explosives threats to public transit systems," said Walt Bonneau with Cubic Corp., one of the firms involved. "There's a good chance law enforcement will already be alerted before the guy leaves the machine." The other firm working with Cubic is GE security.
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