Threat and vulnerability risk assessment for existing subway stations: A simplified approach

Abstract

People use infrastructure systems mostly without realizing how important these systems are until an attack or damage occurs and results in casualties or causes discomfort or inconvenience. Even though there have been numerous studies on critical infrastructure protection in the literature, there has not been any published document on a simplified approach on the risk assessment and protection of existing subway stations. With this motivation, this paper aims to describe and summarize the results of a Threat and Vulnerability Risk Assessment (TVRA) study designed for a generic subway station complex. The scope is to provide the details of the TVRA process for a typical existing station, for typical assets, with a simplified approach. The paper not only presents the TVRA procedure but also provides recommendations for mitigation strategies that would help reduce the risk of threats to existing subway station. The existing subway station is assumed to be in downtown of a relatively large city, therefore close to a business district, located within densely occupied commercial building developments. While each station complex has its own unique characteristics, the methodology shared in this manuscript is generic and can be implemented for any station in the world.