A Tokyo-based railway is introducing a new monitoring system to allow train crew and other officials to share what is happening on a train on a real-time basis.

Keio showed the system to the media at a train depot in a Tokyo suburb on Thursday -- nearly one year after an onboard knife and arson attack.

The system has surveillance cameras with communication functions installed on the ceilings of train cars.

If an incident occurs on a moving train, the system allows officials at the railway's head office and operation centers to find out what is happening on board.

The firm plans to install the cameras on all its train cars by March 2024.

In the attack on October 31 last year, a man stabbed and seriously injured another train passenger before spraying fuel and igniting a fire.

The train's driver and conductor failed to quickly grasp the emergency situation, prompting the railway to take steps for better monitoring and communication.

A Keio official in charge of anti-terror and disaster preparedness measures, Shigeoka Takao, says improving safety is an endless task. He says the firm will work to make the necessary improvements to the system.