A NEW security system which makes use of sensors and automated bollards at bus interchanges will be implemented soon to deal with the threat of car bombs.

The trial for the project started two months ago and is expected to be completed by next September.

If it is successful, the system will be put in place at selected bus interchanges.

The initiative by the Public Security Transport Committee followed studies in Israel where suspicious cars and buses entering bus stations are subject to stringent checks.

The committee, which includes representatives from the police, the Land Transport Authority and the Home Affairs Ministry, was set up in 2004 to review and improve the security of the public transport system here.

The latest project was unveiled on Friday at an exhibition during the National Security Seminar at the Singapore Management University.

The LTA's deputy director of Public Transport Security (Planning & Standards), Mr Tristan Sim, gave an idea of how the system would work.

Public buses travelling to and from bus interchanges will be fitted with devices which will transmit a signal picked up by sensors installed along the roads leading to the interchanges.

The sensors would recognise these signals and the security system would not be activated.

However, the moment an unauthorised vehicle passes through these roads, the system would kick in.

Once the alarm is triggered, a barrier will drop across the road to block the way of the vehicle.

Even if it managed to crash through the boom, a series of bollards will automatically be raised along the road to prevent the vehicle from moving any further.