Ukrainian Railways to spotlight wartime cyber resilience at London rail summit

Rail leaders, regulators and manufacturers will meet in London on 9-10 March 2027 to focus on operational resilience as rail networks face rising cyber risk, connected fleets and tighter rules. Ukrainian Railways, Alstom, Hitachi Rail and Bane NOR are among the headline participants.

Why it matters: - Rail operators are shifting from buying cybersecurity tools to protecting uptime, safety and continuity. - The summit will test how rail systems can stay operational when digital assets, legacy infrastructure and cyber threats collide. - The discussion matters to operators, regulators and manufacturers because cyber risk is increasingly treated as a rail safety and resilience issue.

What happened: - Senior cybersecurity, safety, engineering and operational leaders will gather in London on 9-10 March 2027 for the 13th Annual Rail Cybersecurity Summit. - The event will be held at The Cumberland Hotel in London. - Ukrainian Railways, Alstom, Hitachi Rail, Bane NOR and regulators are among the participants shaping the programme. - The summit will run across two presentation streams, panels and interactive roundtables.

The details: - JSC Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia) will contribute a wartime operations perspective focused on maintaining railway service through sustained disruption. - Anatolii Protsiuk, deputy director for corporate security and head of information security and SOC at Ukrainian Railways, will discuss what cyber resilience means when disruption is ongoing. - Protsiuk’s session will focus on protecting critical systems, maintaining operational capability and ensuring continuity under pressure. - Oleksandr Rykovtsev, director of corporate security at Ukrainian Railways, will introduce a developing Threat-Based Security Management System, or TBSMS. - The TBSMS model is built around identifying threats, responding to them and building resilience around consequences. - Alstom will participate as a confirmed sponsor and will bring a manufacturer’s view on operational resilience. - Bane NOR will examine the “Minimum Viable Company” concept, which identifies the people, systems, processes and capabilities that must keep running during a major disruption. - Professor Ciaran Martin CB, founder and former CEO of the UK National Cyber Security Centre, will offer a strategic perspective on cyber risk and resilience. - Representatives from the Office of Rail and Road, Eisenbahn-Bundesamt, railway operators and infrastructure managers will discuss how cyber risk is being folded into safety and operational governance. - The programme will address NIS2, the UK Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, the Cyber Resilience Act, CAF, IEC 62443 and the emerging IEC 63452 railway cybersecurity standard. - Hitachi Rail will discuss connected rolling-stock security, including projects in the UAE and Asia-Pacific. - Sessions will cover fleet connectivity, remote access, software management, onboard systems and cybersecurity across the life of rolling stock. - The summit will also examine how artificial intelligence, automation and the convergence of IT and operational technology are expanding the attack surface. - Topics include AI use in rail environments, signalling and operational system security, vulnerability management, remote access, monitoring and legacy-infrastructure protection. - The agenda will include supply-chain and third-party risk, including dependencies on suppliers, software, communications infrastructure and outsourced services. - The summit will include 16 focused roundtable discussions across the two days. - The roundtables are designed to let operators, regulators, manufacturers and technology suppliers discuss operational challenges directly. - Confirmed sponsors include Alstom, RazorSecure and Cyber Innovation Hub. - More information, registration, sponsorship and exhibition opportunities are available through the Rail Cybersecurity Summit website.

Between the lines: - The programme shows rail cybersecurity moving beyond narrow technical defenses toward business continuity and service assurance. - Ukrainian Railways adds unusual credibility because the organization is operating under sustained real-world disruption, not theoretical scenario planning. - The mix of regulators, operators and suppliers suggests the industry is trying to align security standards with day-to-day operational realities.

What's next: - Organizers will bring the sector together in London on 9-10 March 2027 for presentations, panels and roundtables. - The event is likely to surface practical approaches for resilience planning, connected-fleet security and regulatory compliance as rail networks keep digitizing. - The summit will continue to position operational resilience as the central frame for rail cybersecurity planning.