There has been another attack on a train in Japan's capital, the assailant striking out indiscriminately to harm anyone within reach.

       One male victim in the Oct. 31 incident on the Keio Line express train in Tokyo's city of Chofu sustained a severe stab wound to the chest. The perpetrator also sprayed lighter fluid around a carriage and set it alight in the attack, which left 16 people injured.

       Videos posted to Twitter show flames raging at one end of a train car, and people escaping through the windows onto a station platform. Seeing a regular Sunday evening crowd aboard a train dissolve into panic was truly shocking.

       A suspect arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder was quoted as telling police, "I wanted to kill people and get sentenced to death." He has apparently added that his work, friendships and other parts of his life had been going badly lately.

       The details of the crime and the perpetrator's motives must be thoroughly investigated.

       The Halloween attack followed a similar incident in August this year, when a knife-wielding assailant injured 10 people on an Odakyu Line train going through Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, some of them severely. The suspect in that case splashed vegetable oil around the carriage and tried to light it. He told investigators that he "wanted to kill happy, successful-looking women."

       The suspect in the most recent case apparently took inspiration from this attack. In other words, this appears to be a chain of violence.

       The inside of a train is an enclosed space with nowhere to run to. And if the train does not make many stops, as with express services, then the time trapped inside this box is extended. There is an urgent need for safety measures built to respond to these kinds of attacks.

       Three years ago, one person was killed and two others injured by a man with a knife on the Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train line. In response, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism banned bladed tools on trains if they were not properly wrapped up. Ahead of the Tokyo Olympics this past summer, the government amended the relevant ministerial ordinance to allow railway companies to search passengers' belongings. The authorities also tested body scanners to find concealed weapons. However, it proved unrealistic to use the machines for big city rail lines packed with people and running on tight schedules.

       Security cameras are being installed in stations and on trains. However, they are thought to have only a limited crime-prevention impact. Meanwhile, systems that can catch events onboard trains in real time are only now being introduced. And there are cost and personnel limits on beefing up patrols by security guards.

       There is no magic bullet policy that can both prevent harm and maintain the convenience of Japan's rail systems. Firms must sound out their fellow railway companies and outside figures to narrow down the wisest safety measures.

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