Applicability of PROACTIVE recommendations on CBRNe risks and threats to passenger rail and metro sectors

Abstract

Passenger rail and metro sectors are no stranger to malicious or unintentional Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and explosive (CBRNe) incidents. Over the last years, the EU H2020 Project PROACTIVE has developed recommendations based on a multimethodological approach which involved questionnaires, interviews and workshops with CBRNe practitioners and security experts. However, these recommendations are geared towards specialised first responders. With a particular focus on rail and metro, this paper examines the answers collected from railway and metro security experts during these research activities to see at which level the PROACTIVE recommendations are fit for these sectors. The results show that some of the generic PROACTIVE recommendations for first responders are already being applied. For example, the recommendations regarding inter-agency collaboration appear to already be put in place. In contrast, other recommendations such as the ones on crisis communication and the inclusion of vulnerable groups in preparedness actions could be applicable since important gaps are present. We discuss the major gaps and how they could be filled in the future.