EUROPE: The final conference of the three-year SECurity of Railways against Electromagnetic aTtacks research project was held in Lille last month.
SECRET aimed to assess the risks and consequences of electromagnetic attacks on rail infrastructure, identify preventive and recovery measures and develop protection techniques. The project was funded by the EU, and managed by a multinational consortium of 10 research centres, manufacturers and railway representatives.
The conference included demonstrations of real-time testing of the susceptibility of GSM-R systems to electromagnetic attack, demonstrations of how to cope with the effects of jamming, and an example of resilient architecture for dynamic interference protection.
UIC director Marc Antoni said the SECRET project would support European interoperability by ensuring signalling systems were ‘robust and resilient’ in the face of electromagnetic attacks. He said the results of the work would be disseminated to UIC members and submitted to standardisation bodies for incorporation into industry standards ‘as practical guidelines for infrastructure managers and railway undertakings’.
