Lessons for railways from project PROACTIVE on CBRNe risks and threats

Abstract

The rail sector is no stranger to malicious or unintentional Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and explosive (CBRNe) incidents. The EU H2020 Project PROACTIVE has developed two sets of recommendations based on a multimethodological approach of questionnaires, workshops and interviews with CBRNe practitioners and security experts. However, these recommendations are geared towards first responders. This paper examines the answers collected from the railway and metro security experts during these research activities to see whether or not the PROACTIVE recommendations are fit for the rail and metro sector. The paper finds that the PROACTIVE recommendations regarding crisis communication and the inclusion of vulnerable groups to be applicable to the public transport sector while the recommendations regarding inter-agency collaboration appear to already be put in place.