Revisiting a game theoretic framework for the robust railway network design against intentional attacks

This paper discusses and extends some competitive aspects of the games proposed in an earlier work, where a robust railway network design problem was proposed as a non-cooperative zero-sum game in normal form between a designer/operator and an attacker. Due to the importance of the order of play and the information available to the players at the moment of their decisions, we here extend those previous models by proposing a formulation of this situation as a dynamic game. Besides, we propose a new mathematical programming model that optimizes both the network design and the allocation of security resources over the network. The paper also proposes a model to distribute security resources over an already existing railway network in order to minimize the negative effects of an intentional attack. For the sake of readability, all concepts are introduced with the help of an illustrative example.The research activities of the authors have been supported by the projects FQM-5849 (Junta de Andalucia\FEDER) and MTM2010-19576-C02-01 (MICINN, Spain). Special thanks are due to two anonymous referees for their valuable comments and suggestions.Perea Rojas Marcos, F.; Puerto Albandoz, J. (2013). Revisiting a game theoretic framework for the robust railway network design against intentional attacks. European Journal of Operational Research. 226(2):286-292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2012.11.015S286292226

Optimizing dynamic investment decisions for railway systems protection

Past and recent events have shown that railway infrastructure systems are particularly vulnerable to natural catastrophes, unintentional accidents and terrorist attacks. Protection investments are instrumental in reducing economic losses and preserving public safety. A systematic approach to plan security investments is paramount to guarantee that limited protection resources are utilized in the most efficient manner. In this article, we present an optimization model to identify the railway assets which should be protected to minimize the impact of worst case disruptions on passenger flows. We consider a dynamic investment problem where protection resources become available over a planning horizon. The problem is formulated as a bilevel mixed-integer model and solved using two different decomposition approaches. Random instances of different sizes are generated to compare the solution algorithms. The model is then tested on the Kent railway network to demonstrate how the results can be used to support efficient protection decisions

Prevention of terrorism : an assessment of prior POM work and future potentials

© 2020 Production and Operations Management Society In this study, we review POM-based research related to prevention of terrorism. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) terrorist attacks have the potential to be prevented. Consequently, the focus of this study is on security enhancement and improving the resiliency of a nation to prevent terrorist attacks. Accordingly, we review articles from the 25 top journals, [following procedures developed by Gupta et al. (2016)], in the fields of Production and Operations Management, Operations Research, Management Science, and Supply Chain Management. In addition, we searched some selected journals in the fields of Information Sciences, Political Science, and Economics. This literature is organized and reviewed under the following seven core capabilities defined by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS): (1) Intelligence and Information Sharing, (2) Planning, (3) Interdiction and Disruption, (4) Screening, Search, and Detection, (5) Forensics and Attribution, (6) Public Information and Warning, and (7) Operational Coordination. We found that POM research on terrorism is primarily driven by the type of information that a defending country and a terrorist have about each other. Game theory is the main technique that is used in most research papers. Possible directions for future research are discussed