It is, in fact, safer to walk loosely on the train.
Cars, planes and buses require passengers to wear seat belts, but trains have always been an exception. But no, this is not a security flaw.
Traveling by train is, statistically, one of the safest forms of transport. According to , data from the European Commission from 2019 estimated just 0.09 deaths per billion kilometers traveled by train in the European Union — around a third of the rate recorded in buses and around 28 times lower than that for car occupants.
Furthermore, train accidents are very different from road accidents. In cars, seat belts prevent passengers from hitting hard surfaces or being thrown out of the vehicle. On trains, many passengers travel standing or move between carriages. In the event of a collision on a hypothetical train with seat belts, passengers traveling standing up would become real projectiles, which would hit other passengers, who were in turn trapped.
They are the seat design and interior layout that focus the attention of railway engineers, not seat belts. Seats are normally reinforced to limit body movement and reduce the severity of injuries in the event of an accident. Tests that sought to introduce the classic three-point belts showed contradictory results: passengers who wore the belt were better protected, but those who did not use it suffered more serious injuries due to the hardening of the structures. Women and adolescents, in particular, were at greater risk of whiplash injuries in these conditions.
