Rail Safety and Security
Course Leader: Mr Conor O'Neill
Semester: 2
Course Duration: 2 weeks
Credit Value: 10 CATS (5 ECTS)
Course fee: £1125
Aims
- To introduce the fundamentals of rail safety and security and present an overview of key areas in terms of rail safety and security, namely: failure, crash, fire, blast, derailment, target of goods;
- To understand the resilience and vulnerability of rail systems;
- To identify and analyse the impacts of malicious acts and terrorist attacks on rail freight systems.
Outline of Syllabus
- Failure, crash, fire, blast, derailment, target of goods, system vulnerability;
- General knowledge on train crash safety, crashworthiness rail research, resilience and vulnerability of rail systems;
- Discussion on materials and structural design to reduce injuries from fragments of rail vehicle materials and improve structural integrity in blast situations;
- Increased resilience of vehicles to blast and fire attacks and reduced damage to adjacent vehicles and infrastructure, speed up recovery following attack, allowing the rail system to "bounce-back" to normal operation quickly;
- Analysis of the impact of terrorist attacks on rail passengers, freight, staff, infrastructure and possible ways to mitigate these impacts.
Intended Knowledge Outcomes
- Fundamentals for safe and secure rail transport
- Rail safety handbooks and security regulations;
- Resilience and vulnerability of rail systems;
- Analysis of impacts of malicious acts and terrorist attacks.
Intended Skill Outcomes
- Understanding of the importance of safety and security in providing services by rail;
- Understanding the resilience and vulnerability of rail systems, freight in particular;
- Abilities to identify malicious acts and analyse their impacts as well as suggest improvements for a safer and more secure rail system.
Teaching methods
- Lectures;
- Small group teaching;
- Fieldwork;
- Independent study.
Assessment methods
- Written examination (30%)
- Design/creative project (70%)
