On Wednesday 25 January 2023, 33 security experts from 15 countries, representing 18 member railway companies, and the German Federal Police met online for a joint meeting of the Sabotage, Intrusion and Attacks (SIA) and New Technologies (NT) working groups. The meeting had a dual focus. First, it addressed the members’ different video security strategies and then it delved into the topic of critical infrastructure resilience. The meeting was led by the chair of the SIA working group, Kathrin Faber from Deutsche Bahn AG (DB).
Daria Kardel from the UIC Security Division began the session on CCTV by presenting the results of the Network of Quick Responders survey on video strategy, to which 15 Security Platform members from 12 countries had responded. The results provided an overview not only on the status of CCTV and which types of cameras are currently used, but also on ongoing testing, future plans, and the combination of CCTV with other security technologies. Furthermore, analysis of these survey results showed that when it comes to both cross border camera recordings and the use of Artificial Intelligence for video analysis, there is a lack of appropriate legal regulations, with those currently in force not necessarily being harmonised, at least on a European scale. Of note is that 93% of respondents expressed their willingness to continue to work together on the use of CCTV, a sentiment which was also underpinned by those present at the meeting, who expressed their willingness to further cooperate and exchange knowledge about the video technologies used in their companies.
Afterwards, Leonid Scharf from the German Federal Police gave a presentation prepared together with Tanja Hawranke from DB regarding the use and testing of intelligent video analysis technology, after which Miroslav Vojtek from Správa Železnic (SŽCZ), the chair of the NT Working Group, gave a presentation on CCTV systems at SŽCZ and an update on the testing of a LiDAR system in one of the railway tunnels in the Czech Republic.
The second part of the meeting was devoted to critical infrastructure resilience. Kardel gave an overview of the European framework for critical infrastructure resilience and informed those present about the two new European Directives that entered into force in January: the Directive on Critical Entities Resilience (CER) and the Directive on a High Common Level of Cybersecurity Throughout the Union (NIS-2). Both directives offer legal measures to boost the overall security and resilience levels of critical physical and cyber infrastructure. She also explained what obligations these directives impose on railways in European member states.
Members additionally expressed their willingness to continue to cooperate and share information on the progress of implementing these directives at a national level.
Faber then gave an update on the action taken after the attack on German rail infrastructure in October last year, and discussed its implications in relation to resilience.
The meeting was also an opportunity to update members on the UIC Security Platform’s latest activities. A new working group on Crisis Management has been created and will be chaired by Jerzy Trocha from the Polish State Railways and vice-chaired by Munawar Khursheed from the Indian Railway Protection Force. Moreover, the working group on Human Factors has a new chair, Peter Lambrinakos from Via Rail Canada. Members were also encouraged to attend the 18th World Security Congress, jointly organised by UIC and the Railway Protection Force of Indian Railways, which will take place in India on 21–23 February 2023. Registration for the event is open until 30 January 2023.
The meeting ended with a presentation on the next steps within the working groups and a discussion on topics to be raised in the future.
The documents and presentations from the meeting are available on the UIC extranet.
