The Community of Madrid will instruct Metro warehouse and depot guards with self-defence drills
The aim is to repel attackers during potential vandalism by providing them with a gel that reduces visibility without being harmful. The regional government is currently investing €61 million in the protection of the enclosures, strategic spaces and exhibition areas that are part of the underground heritage. The metro company intends to extend these elements to the more than 1,500 employees working across the network when security contracts are renewed.
The Community of Madrid will equip the security guards who are stationed at the 13 warehouses and depots of Metro de Madrid with personal defence sprays, which are key for the correct development of the underground's activity, as they carry out maintenance, storage and cleaning work on the trains.
This way, the regional government wishes to increase the tools that these professionals have at their disposal, with the aim of acting as a deterrent and repelling aggressors when facing possible acts of vandalism, without in any case posing a potential risk to third parties.
The metropolitan company is currently working with the company awarded the contract, supervising that the product complies with specific requirements to obtain Private Security authorisation. The technical specifications include gel technology instead of spray technology, which means that there are no side effects on people, and a system with a protective lock to prevent accidental activation. Once the approval process has been completed, employees will receive specific training on the use of this new means of protection.
At the end of 2024, the regional government renewed the contract for the provision of surveillance services for the enclosures, strategic spaces and exhibition areas that are part of the Metro's heritage, with an investment of almost €61 million over four years. The implementation of defence sprays is only envisaged for the group in warehouses and depots.
Thus, the deployment of the new equipment will serve as a pilot test for its incorporation into future security contracts, with the idea of extending it to the more than 1,500 employees working on the entire underground network.
