Underground Transport Hub Resilience to Ensure Availability and Tackle danger – U-THREAT

Over the years, underground transport networks have gradually been developed in cities, and have become increasingly complex in terms of multimodal exchanges, giving rise to underground hubs. Their importance within the urban space is now such that even a minor and temporary disruption can have a significant impact on other modes in the open air.

Recent feedback has shown that the ability of underground networks to deal with threats likely to have a significant impact on their ability to function is an important issue and there is need for improvement in terms of practices. During recent major breakdowns and terrorist attacks, apart from the dramatic immediate consequences in the second case, there were shown to be shortfalls in the management of degraded operating modes and the time taken to restore normal operating conditions. The behavior of users (especially those blocked in trains) and their actions showed that there is considerable room for improvement in terms of management and communication with users. Finally, as events affecting structural elements are rare, most operators have not assessed the structural vulnerability of their network and have not developed procedures and techniques to deal with such events.
Yet a good management of all these issues is vital to the resilience of the network when faced with these types of events.

The core issue of the U-THREAT proposal is resilience and will be the common thread of the work conducted. The proposal will focus on an underground Metro network.

To improve resilience when faced with an accidental or intentional event, three types of measures need to be undertaken: an assessment of the situation, the implementation of one or several degraded but acceptable operating modes and measures to enable restoration of operation. These three types of measures must be applied to three fields: structural elements (civil works), operation and user protection/assistance. The measures of each of these three types can vary in nature and can be implemented prior to the occurrence of an event (preventive, preparatory measures) and during the event. The project will therefore be structured around these three fields: structural elements (civil works), operation and user protection/assistance. Each of these three fields will be dealt with through the development of the three types of measures mentioned above and will include a study of new technologies (for example communication technologies) and new mode of transport. These new technologies/ transport modes will not necessarily all prove to be useful in the given context, but if their added value is shown, they should enhance any measures developed. Work on the possible use of mobile applications is notably envisaged. The use and improvement of existing measures and / or equipment will be included.