New CEN Workshop Agreement on infrastructure resilience

22 November 2021 | Brussels

The ERF has participated together with other organisations in the elaboration of the new CEN Workshop Agreement CWA 17819:2021 ‘Guidelines for the assessment of resilience of transport infrastructure to potentially disruptive events’ published in November.

Initiated as part of FORESEE EU project, the CWA aimed at developing a harmonised approach to reinforce engineering asset management in case of extreme events derived from natural or manmade hazards (floods, earthquakes, heavy snow falls, fog, high winds, or cyberattacks). Several organisations representing public administrations, academia, research and private sector initiated the discussions in January contributing during these months to draft the document with the working group coordinated by UNE (Spanish CEN/CENELEC member) and ETH Zurich (Chair).

The guidelines represent a step ahead in our sector promoting more resilient transport network both for road and for railways, too. The CWA will be used by infrastructure managers to minimise the impact and potential consequences of disruptive events while ensuring a prompt recovery for the movement of people and goods.

The work of ERF in FORESEE will conclude next February with the organisation of an online conference that will be announced soon. Until then, the guidelines will be validated in 5 cases studies located in Germany, Italy, Spain, and Portugal.