Assessment of Fenestration Security as Part of Railway Infrastructure

The safety of train stations can be affected by many internal and external threats. Train stations or stations in generally can be classified as soft targets. It can be assumed a potential target for many, especially terrorist attacks. In elevated number of railways stations, large glass surface as facades and stained-glass windows are presented. They present vulnerable part of construction, affected by various type of accidental loads (as blast and impact) in case of terrorist attacks. In this terrorist attack, the biggest cause of injuries and deaths are caused by debris from glass parts of structure. The paper is focused on the glass used in modern construction of train stations. Based on this, several methods of loading condition are described and the resistance of fenestration on such loads is assessed. The practical part of the paper is focused on two types of window systems and the resistance to dynamic loads was evaluated. The experimental testing was performed using a pendulum test. The results showed the resistance of selected types of windows without, as well as, with the use of security protective film. The paper also interprets possible glass failure under dynamic loading.