Cross border critical infrastructure. A new approach for the protection evaluation

The work proposes an operational model for the management of cross-border transport critical infrastructures. Particular focus is given to road and rail network. The main goal is to develop a Decision Support System (DSS) for the management of relevant events that may have impacts on the two countries. The SICt project - Resilience of cross-border Critical Infrastructures is part of the Interreg VA Italy-Switzerland 2014-2020. The project area includes Regione Lombardia (Italy) and Canton Ticino (Switzerland) and has been divided into two areas. The study area where the hazards (events) of both anthropic and natural origin are analyzed. Critical scenarios on critical infrastructure are also evaluated. The impact area is a larger area in which the effects, after the total or partial interruptions of a critical infrastructure in the study area, are evaluated. Specifically, the work illustrates the different operational phases of the proposed model. The first one is the analysis of anthropic and natural hazards related to the study area: road and rail accidents, rail failures, intense rainfall events, floods, landslides, debris flow, etc... The second phase concerns the detailed analysis aimed at managing the events, with particular reference to the first responders' intervention models and the emergency and traffic management plans. This phase also includes the implementation of a monitoring network and an IT platform, used to share data and information about critical infrastructures. The third phase is the test and validation of the IT platform implemented.