Reminder: The SHERPA project has received funding from the European Union’s Internal Security Fund Police under grant agreement No 815347. It is coordinated by UIC and will last 24 months.
It aims to improve the overall protection level for stations and trains in Europe against terrorist attacks by implementing multiple synergistic actions towards the relevant stakeholders. The SHERPA Consortium is composed of six partners: UIC, DB AG, FS SpA, PKP S.A., SNCB, and SNCF. The consortium is supported by an Advisory Board composed of CER, COLPOFER, RAILPOL and UITP.
The first SHERPA workshop on “Terrorist risk assessment and management” was held on Tuesday 22 January 2019 at the headquarters of SNCB, leader of the first technical work package aimed at defining a coherent approach for terrorist risk assessment and management. Around 25 participants from seven countries attended this workshop which was organised in a very interactive manner.
In his introductory speech, Jerzy Wisniewski, Director of the UIC Fundamental Values Department, welcomed the participants from the Advisory Board and from the Project Consortium. He underlined the importance of cooperation efforts among railway companies, along with crucial roles played within the European Commission by DG MOVE and DG HOME.
After a short overview on the SHERPA project given by Marie-Hélène Bonneau from the UIC Security Division, Delphine Beatse, Security Policy Expert at SNCB, presented the organisation of the day, structured around three sessions: the first session was dedicated to threat analysis, followed by a session about risk assessment and management, and the last one focusing on lessons learned from past terrorist attacks.
First session: Threat analysis
The first session was opened by Paul Van Tigchelt, CUTA Director - Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis in Belgium. In his speech he focused on the current threat level in Belgium, on the policies adopted, and on the lessons learned, also explaining the different roles and responsibilities regarding threat and risk analysis. After that, Bruno De Rosa, Senior Advisor within the UIC Security Division, presented the results achieved within the Consortium on the evolution of the terrorist threat targeting railways in Europe.
Second session: Risk assessment and management
Radoslaw Olszewski, Administrator Counterterrorism, EC DG HOME, opened the second session and presented the EU Risk assessment methodology, in which he concentrated on examples of the EU Aviation Security Risk Assessment Process. This keynote speech was followed by the presentation of further results achieved with the partners’ contributions regarding the coherent approach for terrorist risk assessment and management by Nick Van Den Brulle (SNCB) and Kathrin Faber (UIC). A first proposal of a common approach was discussed in person and validated among the workshop participants.
Third session: lessons learned from past terrorist attacks
The last session of the workshop focused on information sharing on lessons learned from past terrorist attacks. The project partners DB AG, FS, PKP S. A., SNCB and SNCF focused within their explanation on a general vision, aspects regarding personnel, communication, benchmarking and stakeholders, security management, business continuity and recommendations from authorities.
In conclusion, the workshop was very successful, as it brought highly valuable contributions from its participants that will support the development of the SHERPA project’s forthcoming activities.
The next steps are as follows:
- 12 April 2019: Workshop (WS2) on Emerging threats (Paris, organised by SNCF and hosted at UIC HQ)
- 18 – 20 June 2019: Informative session on SHERPA during the 5th UIC Security Week (Paris, UIC HQ)
- 1 – 2 October 2019: Workshop (WS3) on “How to better protect stations” (Warsaw, organised and hosted by PKP S.A.)
