On 7 April 2011 the main organisations representing the public transport and railway sectors, namely: UIC (security platform and Colpofer special group), CER, EIM, ERFA and UITP, as well as the organisation for cooperation between railway police forces Railpol, signed a joint declaration on transport security addressed to the European Commission.

This declaration is the first joint official stance by the whole of the public transport and railway sector on the forthcoming security policies relating to persons and property and on the need for cooperation between all professional and institutional partners.

The declaration highlights the specific characteristic of the sector vis-à-vis the risks and threats affecting the various aspects of security, from vandalism through to terrorism. It recalls that “encouraging a modal shift in favour of public transport and rail contributes to the public safety and security of Europeans.”

The declaration stresses the need to develop and share a joint vision on the topic insofar as “security is a multi-stakeholder and multi-modal issue: voluntary measures or standardisation of specific technical areas specified by the sector itself should be supported.”

The signatory organisations “are in favour of European initiatives to support the security of the public transport and railway sectors. They are working together to create a common view on security issues as there is a need for a common approach. They are willing to exchange views on this joint declaration, or any other issues relating to security, with representatives of the European Commission.”

The text is available on the UIC website at http://uic.org/spip.php?article2796