On the occasion of the International Conference on Railway Stations NEXTSTATION in Madrid, UIC is launching two publications on railway stations. One deals with smart stations in smart cities and the other specifically addresses security in stations.
Handbook on Smart Stations in Smart Cities
The handbook on Smart stations in smart cities was prepared by the UIC Passenger team and highlights the three main pillars of a smart station: smart management, smart infrastructure and smart mobility.
Smart management
The process of dealing with or controlling things or people with the new information and communication technology. The manager constantly seeks to improve his process, going beyond “classical” actions to create new opportunities and respond to new challenges.
Smart infrastructure
Adding value, either through improved features, through for example better design or use of new technology.
Smart mobility
Using new technology to facilitate the flow of individuals and information in time and space, using smart information and communication infrastructure.
More smart mobility means easier access to railway infrastructure, to improve quality of service. This can be achieved only through cooperation between the relevant players, which does not mean loss of each party’s independence, but rather a more open mindset, which is more fitting for a smart city.
Cooperation should make it possible to better meet mobility needs. Smart mobility is above all about facilitating mobility, regardless of individual differences. It is also about having the will to reduce the negative impact of mobility, such as pollution, accidents, congestion, conflict of use (electro-mobility versus pedestrians on pavements). Smart mobility is about offering more sophisticated and more choice in intermodal mobility, by working in conjunction with mobility players, to sharpen the competitive edge against private car use. Smart mobility is also about improving modal shift and setting the stage for a win-win strategy involving mobility players and users.
To achieve this, smart cities and smart stations have to tackle two facets of mobility: information mobility and mobility of individuals. Two independent and yet complementary factors.
Just as a station is an intermodal transport hub, smart stations are also hubs of information exchange for operators, business players and station users. Sharing information is therefore central to this model.
UIC Handbook on Security in Stations
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, 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 the impact of security tools on station management, a descriptive measure 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 handbooks are available here:
http://uic.org/IMG/pdf/smart_stations_in_smart_cities.pdf
http://uic.org/IMG/pdf/station_security_for_station_business.pdf
