Transport resilience against Cyber and Non-Cyber Events to prevent Network Disruption

The transport network is among the so-called Critical Infrastructures' (CIs), which are essential to maintaining the vital functions of the Single Market.

While it is by nature a large-scale interconnected and interdependent system to efficiently move people and goods, its complexity also makes it more vulnerable in the event of a disruption and generates economic impact on a European scale.

Due to the increasing cross-border interdependencies between services provided using critical infrastructures in these sectors, an interruption in one MS may have implications in other MS or in the Union as a whole.

In December 2022, Council Recommendation 2023/C 20/01 suggested giving priority to four of the eleven sectors mentioned in the CER Directive, including transport.

Although transport is recognised as a key sector to be protected, freight transport is underrepresented in terms of previous research projects.

As supply chains become more complex and global, they rely more on logistics infrastructures that must be resilient to provide seamless transport.

Since freight transport terminals are locations where goods are assembled and dispersed, they have always been a focus of security and safety concerns.The overarching objective of TRANSCEND is to provide freight transport critical infrastructure operators with an integrated set of advanced tools, guidelines and technological solutions to reduce risk, and enhance the protection and resilience of their critical infrastructure and interrelated critical infrastructures against physical, cyber and hybrid threats.​ The contributions will be integrated into a Control Tower, a digital platform with embedded business intelligence giving stakeholders a shared and continuous visibility of threats and risks by breaking down silos within and between organisations.

To demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach, five diverse CIs will experiment methodological and technological solutions as pilots: three leaders and two followers.