The chair Marc Beaulieu (VIA Rail Canada) and the vice chair Piotr Kurcz (PKP S. A.) opened the Steering Committee of the UIC Security Platform, which took place on 14 February 2019 in Paris. Among around 20 participants, the security programme and actions for 2019 – 2020 were discussed.

UIC activities
Jerzy Wisniewski, Director of the UIC Fundamental Values Department, reported on the on-going strategy development process and personnel changes according to the new Deputy Director General Francois Davenne. In addition, the common work with other UIC departments, like the workshop on rail suicide and trespass prevention (25 March, Paris) or the training on High Speed Systems (8 – 12 April, Paris), were presented.

The annual security week and the security congress are the main annual events of the UIC security Division. Proposals for the programme of the 5th UIC Security Week (18 – 20 June 2019 in Paris) and the 15th UIC Security Congress (20 – 22 November in Prague) were discussed among the participants.

Furthermore, information on the recent activities of the network of quick responders and the current status of the development of the rail security hub were given.

Working groups activities
The chairs of the permanent and temporary working groups (WG) presented their recent activities. Delphine Beatse (SNCB), chair of the WG Strategy and Regulations, reported on the current status and next activities regarding Passenger – Name – Record (PNR).

Afterwards, Vladimir Kuznetzov (RZD), chair of the WG Human Factor, presented their ideas for the work programme 2019 / 2020, which will be validated during the next WG meeting on 13 March in Moscow.

Politically motivated interventions & military transport will be the main topic of the next WG meeting SIA, which will take place on 28 March in Berlin. Furthermore Marita-Annegret Grosser (DB AG) and chair of the WG SIA, said that they concentrated on security concepts for marshalling yards within the last WG meeting.
The WG BIRC is currently preparing two leaflets on concerning security of railway border crossings, international freight transport within the East-West corridor and passenger transport within the East-West corridor was presented by Włodzimierz Ternawski (PKP PLK S. A.).

EU-projects
SHERPA – Shared and coherent European railway protection approach (1 November 2018 – 31 October 2020): This project has received funding from the European Union’s Internal Security Funding for Police. SHERPA aims to improve the overall protection level for stations and trains in Europe against terrorist attacks by closing the current knowledge gaps concerning the phenomenon and implementation of multiple synergistic actions for the relevant stakeholders. The SHERPA Consortium is composed of 6 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, UITP Nederlandse Spoorwegen and SBB.

The first technical WP on “coherent approach for terrorist risk assessment and management” is coming to an end. Marie-Hélène Bonneau (UIC Project Coordinator) and Delphine Beatse (SNCB – WP-Leader) presented the results of this WP regarding threat analysis, risk assessment and management as well as lessons learned from past terrorist attacks and also described the next steps.

For further information on the SHERPA project, please consult the website: www.sherpa-rail-project.eu or contact Marie-Hélène Bonneau, UIC Security Division and Project Coordinator: bonneau at uic.org

Furthermore, the participants received information regarding the involvement in different EU project proposals and their results.

Information from the partners
The strong cooperation with different security bodies is key element for the UIC security division to strengthen the information exchange and create synergies for their members. Therefore, CER, COLPOFER, UITP and Railpol, permanent members of the steering committee, presented their recent activities and gave an outlook about the plans for 2019.

As part of the closing remarks, Marc Beaulieu and Piotr Kurcz thanked all partners for their involvement and the good cooperation over the recent years. They are looking forward to the planned activities and highlighted the diverse programme, which is provided for UIC members.

Upcoming security related meetings and events in 2019 – save the dates:

• 26 – 27 February: Expert Workshop regarding FFCCTV & Bodycams (Paris)
• 13 March: WG Human Factor (Moscow)
• 28 – 29 March: WG Sabotage, Intrusions, Attacks and Colpofer Working Group on Terrorism & Extremist activities (Berlin)
• 12 April: SHERPA - WS2 – Workshop on Emerging threats (in Paris)
• 18 – 20 June: 5th UIC Security Week with the annual seminar on topics resulting from the network of quick responders, SHERPA progress meeting and the UIC Security awareness day (Paris)
• 1 – 2 October: SHERPA - WS3 - Workshop on How to better protect stations (in Warsaw)
• 20 – 22 November 2019: 15th UIC Security Congress (Prague)