Design of the IMPRESS training for railway staff and awareness program for the general public

Abstract

Railways represent a vulnerable public space with railway stations and running trains being acknowledged as soft targets for terrorism and other forms of serious crime. For example, the Global Terrorism Database lists more than 2,200 incidents between 1970 and 2020 when using the search term “rail”. Since the rail environment is open and huge, its protection must rely on a systemic approach in which the whole community has a better security culture and is actively involved in prevention and initial response processes. To address this gap, the EU co-funded project IMPRESS (IMProving Railway sEcurity through awareneSS and training) aims to enhance the protection of stations and trains by developing security training and awareness programmes. The project focuses on the “immediate responders” from the railway environment who are most likely to be the first to prevent or react to a security incident when it occurs on railway premises, before the arrival of specialised first responders (e.g., police, firefighters, emergency medical services). This target group of end-users includes: the railway staff (e.g., security staff, frontline staff) and stakeholders at stations (e.g., retail) or in trains (e.g., train managers, catering, cleaning, other service providers). IMPRESS conducted a survey within the railway sector to identify desired training topics for serious violent crime and terrorist attacks. Survey responses were collected from 18 respondents from 14 countries. Subsequently, an end-user workshop with rail security experts validated the survey findings. A further workshop addressed operational scenarios and the draft training modules which are now under development. This presentation will discuss the potential role for rail ‘immediate responders’ in the case of an immediate threat or attack on railway premises and how these ideas will be translated into the IMPRESS training program.