A Risk Assessment Framework For Interconnected And Interdependent Surface Transport Networks

Abstract

The functioning and viability of modern societies is heavily depended upon the continuous and uninterruptible oper- ation of critical infrastructures. Surface transportation systems are in the heart of the daily lives of millions of citizens globally. As such, they are open and freely accessible by design and in the past have been exploited for terrorism attacks. Like many critical infrastructures, different multimodal and het- erogeneous transportation networks are interconnected as integral part of larger synergistic systems forming a “network of networks”. These underlying and often concealed intercon- nections between network assets enable adverse effects to manifest at assets that are initially unaffected by a security inci- dent. The present paper introduces a holistic Risk Assessment Framework for heterogeneous, transportation networks that is applicable at a strategic level, where risk is propagated between interconnected networks through an “Incident Propagation Matrix” taking into account the nature of the interconnection and the type of threat. The proposed methodology views and models the risk analysis process from the perspective of the network operator and emergency responders and emphasizes the reduction of the impacts on business continuity.