More than 90 participants from 21 countries across the world attended this online conference organised by UIC (International Union of Railways) on 15 October 2020 to discuss the findings and main outputs of SHERPA (Shared and coherent European Railway Protection Approach). The European Union’s project SHERPA coordinated by UIC started on 1 November 2018 for two years. The main objective is to improve the overall security level of railway stations and trains (hereby understood as public spaces and soft targets) against terrorism across Europe.
SHERPA has received funding from the European Union’s Internal Security Fund Police under grant agreement No 915347.
The conference was opened by UIC Director General François Davenne who said:
“Stations and trains are open by nature and it makes it difficult to effectively protect them or to check people in main stations, where passenger or user flows are so important. The challenge is to reduce the risk as much as possible keeping in mind that it is also essential that, as far as possible, rail transport remains open, attractive and easily accessible.
After 2 work of intensive work, SHERPA project is coming to an end. The partners, DB AG, FS, PKP, SNCB and SNCF, under the coordination of UIC, will present today their results.
Beyond the results, SHERPA project was a good opportunity to strengthen the cooperation between the railways and highlight the coherence needed between national policies defined by public authorities in charge of security of people and goods.
As Director General of UIC, the coordinator of the project, I would like to thank these 5 railways involved in this project: they are key players in the railway sector and also very active members of UIC. The results achieved are particularly interesting and effective for the other UIC members but also for authorities to better understand railway constraints.
The UIC security Hub which has been massively updated, thanks to SHERPA results, will enable rail security experts and policymakers to select and implement the most appropriate strategies, measures to improve security in Europe with a common approach.
Thank you to everyone for the work already accomplished and your continued commitment for fighting against terrorism together. I wish you a lot of success for this final conference of the SHERPA project. And I hope to see you again for the follow -up of this project in the near future!”