The European Community project (running under the "Seventh Framework Programme”) for railway security improvement has been finished successfully after three years with a two weeks demonstration in Zmigrod/Poland. A consortium of European companies where SARAD worked together with industrial giants like Alstom and Bombardier demonstrated the today available solutions for prevention against terrorism and vandalism, and to increase transportation safety.
One key issue was the introduction of a decentralized and standardized communication system which is able to receive various events (generated by video systems, sensors, messages) from independent sources. Then, the events become categorized by a network broker and will be forwarded to potential users with respect to their competence profile. A parallel communication path allows the control of data sources and operators on site following the procedure which is foreseen after a specific event occurs (e.g. video tracking, parallel sampling)

Our company was involved in fife work packages and four demo-scenarios:

- Detection of radioactive sources inside luggage on the platform
- Continuous monitoring of freight containers regarding explosive and toxic gases
- Sniffing radioactive aerosols and toxic/combustible gases in wagons
- Inspection of freight containers
- Wireless communication via ZigBee network on train and platform
- Interface to ProtectRail communication network (event generation and access to available detector resources)

The various realistic scenarios have been carried out successfully several times under the critical eyes of the European Commission and stakeholders of the European railway industry. We are glad to get this pleasant confirmation of our development work during the last years. You will find many of the demonstrated solutions already in our new products. For further information visit the website www.protectrail.eu.