In FP7, PROTECTRAIL is one of the largest integrated projects on security and probably the most relevant initiative in railway security at present. The objective is to develop a global framework, taking existing solutions, making them interoperable, testing them in demonstrations with real-life scenarios.

The beneficiaries of the project will be the security staff of the operators at different levels, crisis management structures run by authorities or police officers and finally the “end users” of railways, passengers and citizens.

The first PROTECTRAIL demonstration was held in Zmigrod, Poland, where several simulated scenarios were carried out and explained in real-time. The scenarios demonstrated during this week included: intrusion, criminal activities of staff, lost luggage and CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Explosives) detection.

Today in Villecresnes, France, innovative solutions and their effectiveness in protecting railway assets against High Probability Low Impact (HPLI) security events were presented. This time, the second demonstration was conducted in real life conditions.
Organisations implemented their systems on this site and will test it. The trial will last three months, until the conclusion of the project.

In the morning, participants visited the 1km test track to see the devices used in real life. Then in the afternoon, they went to Thales Vélizy to visit the platform which monitors the results of the tests. The different organisations presented their solution systems.
In spring 2014, the final conference to conclude the project will be held at UIC HQ where all results will be presented.