Railway stations are obviously the beginning and the end of a railway journey, thus they are crucial for the attractivity of the railway system. The services and the appearance of the stations have an essential impact to the satisfaction of the customers as well as to the impression of their cities and regions.
Nowadays, stations (rail stations but also public transport stations) have become favourite places to meet people, go shopping or rest for a while. They constitute important public places throughout the day and when other spaces are closed. This fact makes stations attractive for the development of businesses but also vulnerable from a security point of view.
The aim of the UIC handbook “Station security for station business: handbook on effective solutions” is to develop effective solutions for station security measures as part of station design and management, taking into account their impact on station business elements and customer perception.
Therefore, the International Union of Railways (UIC) established a temporary project group under the participation of members of UIC Station Managers Global Group (SMGG) and UIC Security Platform. The technical support was conducted by Infrastructure Economics Centre (Moscow, Russia).
From March – October 2017, the project group organised several workshops with security and station manager experts to share knowledge and the experience about different types of security measures regarding different station types and situations and to promote the best solutions according to the legal and administrative environment which differs from country to country. A dedicated online survey has been launched by the project group to examine different practices in the field of security provision and the influence of security tools on different areas of station management.
All this information is summarised in the first part of the handbook. It contains the description of over 20 security measures, a cross-analysis of security tools impact on station management, a measure description for each station security tool enabling to minimise the possible negative impact and to stimulate the advantages or benefits for both security and station management as well as suggestions of recommendations for sustainable strategies for the various types of stations. In addition, the handbook includes working and check lists for practical use.
The main results will be presented during the NextStation Conference.
