Railway Infrastructure Security

This comprehensive monograph addresses crucial issues in the protection of railway systems, with the objective of enhancing the understanding of railway infrastructure security. Based on analyses by academics, technology providers and railway operators, it explains how to assess terrorist and criminal threats, design countermeasures, and implement effective security strategies. In so doing, it draws upon a range of experiences from different countries in Europe and beyond. The book is the first to be devoted entirely to this subject. It will serve as a timely reminder of the attractiveness of the railway infrastructure system as a target for criminals and terrorists and, more importantly, as a valuable resource for stakeholders and professionals in the railway security field aiming to develop effective security based on a mix of methodological, technological and organizational tools. Besides researchers and decision makers in the field, the book will appeal to students interested in critical infrastructure protection.

This book provides an overview and assessment of the security risks, both manmade and natural, facing the railways and rail networks. Railroads face significant threats from disasters, but with situational awareness and coordinated effort these can often be substantially minimized. Transportation assets have always been vulnerable to natural disasters, but in the current environment these assets are also a preferred target of human-caused disruption, especially in the form of terrorism, as the events in many other parts of the world have underscored. Railways are not a homogeneous mode of transportation given their various roles in intercity and commuter passenger movement, as well as being a major portion of the freight ton-miles upon which the U.S. economy is highly dependent. Designed to provide advice for railway owners and first responders, this text discusses how to secure hazardous material transport and how to establish guidelines for rail freight operations and rail passenger operations. The book aims to develop an understanding of the unique operating characteristics of railways, the nature and the range of vulnerabilities, the present means for protecting the infrastructure, and the public policy initiatives that are prerequisite for developing a comprehensive appreciation of the magnitude of this issue. The book utilizes case studies of transport disasters to illustrate lessons learned and to provide critical insight into preventative measures. This book will be of great interest to students and practitioners of transportation, technology and engineering, and security management.

The information infrastructure – comprising computers, embedded devices, networks and software systems – is vital to operations in every sector: chemicals, commercial facilities, communications, critical manufacturing, dams, defense industrial base, emergency services, energy, financial services, food and agriculture, government facilities, healthcare and public health, information technology, nuclear reactors, materials and waste, transportation systems, and water and wastewater systems. Global business and industry, governments, indeed society itself, cannot function if major components of the critical information infrastructure are degraded, disabled or destroyed. Critical Infrastructure Protection XV describes original research results and innovative applications in the interdisciplinary field of critical infrastructure protection. Also, it highlights the importance of weaving science, technology and policy in crafting sophisticated, yet practical, solutions that will help secure information, computer and network assets in the various critical infrastructure sectors. Areas of coverage include: Industrial Control Systems Security; Telecommunications Systems Security; Infrastructure Security. This book is the fourteenth volume in the annual series produced by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Working Group 11.10 on Critical Infrastructure Protection, an international community of scientists, engineers, practitioners and policy makers dedicated to advancing research, development and implementation efforts focused on infrastructure protection. The book contains a selection of 13 edited papers from the Fifteenth Annual IFIP WG 11.10 International Conference on Critical Infrastructure Protection, held as a virtual event during the spring of 2021. Critical Infrastructure Protection XV is an important resource for researchers, faculty members and graduate students, as well as for policy makers, practitioners and other individuals with interests in homeland security.

Human errors, as well as deliberate sabotage, pose a considerable danger to passengers riding on the modern railways and have created disastrous consequences. To protect civilians against both intentional and unintentional threats, rail transportation has become increasingly automated. Railway Safety, Reliability, and Security: Technologies and Systems Engineering provides engineering students and professionals with a collection of state-of-the-art methodological and technological notions to support the development and certification of ‘real-time safety-critical’ railway control systems, as well as the protection of rail transportation infrastructures.

Railway transportation has become one of the main technological advances of our society. Since the first railway used to carry coal from a mine in Shropshire (England, 1600), a lot of efforts have been made to improve this transportation concept. One of its milestones was the invention and development of the steam locomotive, but commercial rail travels became practical two hundred years later. From these first attempts, railway infrastructures, signalling and security have evolved and become more complex than those performed in its earlier stages. This book will provide readers a comprehensive technical guide, covering these topics and presenting a brief overview of selected railway systems in the world. The objective of the book is to serve as a valuable reference for students, educators, scientists, faculty members, researchers, and engineers.

This book provides an overview and assessment of the security risks, both manmade and natural, facing the railways and rail networks. Railroads face significant threats from disasters, but with situational awareness and coordinated effort these can often be substantially minimized. Transportation assets have always been vulnerable to natural disasters, but in the current environment these assets are also a preferred target of human-caused disruption, especially in the form of terrorism, as the events in many other parts of the world have underscored. Railways are not a homogeneous mode of transportation given their various roles in intercity and commuter passenger movement, as well as being a major portion of the freight ton-miles upon which the U.S. economy is highly dependent. Designed to provide advice for railway owners and first responders, this text discusses how to secure hazardous material transport and how to establish guidelines for rail freight operations and rail passenger operations. The book aims to develop an understanding of the unique operating characteristics of railways, the nature and the range of vulnerabilities, the present means for protecting the infrastructure, and the public policy initiatives that are prerequisite for developing a comprehensive appreciation of the magnitude of this issue. The book utilizes case studies of transport disasters to illustrate lessons learned and to provide critical insight into preventative measures. This book will be of great interest to students and practitioners of transportation, technology and engineering, and security management.

This proceedings volume includes articles presented during the Advanced Research Workshop on Soft Target Protection. The book presents important topics related to the protection of vulnerable objects and spaces, called Soft Targets. The chapters published in this book are thematically assigned to the blocks as follows: Theoretical aspect of soft target protection; Blast resistance of soft targets; Counter terrorism; Technical and technological solutions for soft target protection; Scheme and organizational measures; Blast protection and Forces for soft target protection. In this book, the reader will find a wealth of information about the theoretical background for designing protection of soft targets, as well as the specifics of protecting objects in armed conflict areas. New methods and procedures applicable to the soft target protection are described.

The four rail attacks in Europe & Asia since 2004, including the most recent in India, highlight the vulnerability of passenger rail & other surface transportation systems to terrorist attack & demonstrate the need for greater focus on securing these systems. This testimony is based primarily on a Sept. 2005 passenger rail security report & selected recent program updates. It addresses: (1) the extent to which the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) has assessed the risks facing the U.S. passenger rail system & developed a strategy based on risk assessments for securing all modes of transportation, including passenger rail; & (2) the actions that fed. agencies have taken to enhance the security of the U.S. passenger rail system. Includes recommend.