Railway Network Access
Here’s something to think about:
For obvious reasons the actual network, the railway tracks, are widespread and open to access at anytime.
Additionally, the network access points – the railway stations – lack even the basic security infrastructure we are used to in air network access points- no baggage check process, no metal detectors, no excessive force presence. Everyone simply gaggles onto the platforms and trains.
To get on the platforms one does not even need to get their actual ticket checked. Individuals can simply purchase a “platform ticket” for 20R – about 50 cents, and with that ticket do anything they want on the “docked” train and the platform.
To put it bluntly: The barriers to network entry approach zero.
( This is all reminiscent of the airports of old. )
On My Project
It looks like I’ll probably just be turning the railway component – on which the grant is based – into a case study. The big thinking on systems disruption has obviously already been done. My work on railway disruption is likely just the academic filler that follows in the slipstream of big ideas.
What I am really interested in is the bleeding-edge work being done on resiliency. So I’ll be devoting a big chunk of time to looking at that issue.
On My Posts
This a uniquely challenging project because there is a lot of chaff to get through (ethnic, caste, economic classes, the public/private sector divide, family/friends). Though the posts don’t reflect it, I’m doing my best to stay above all of that – and in doing so, staying relevant.
Lots of my posting will be open and Barnett-esque in nature. With a rapidly changing and just-in-time travel schedule its tough to put together refined or succinct pieces for the blog. My spelling will also likely suffer. For all of that – apologies.
Indian Power Shortage
Interesting tidbits from a conversation I had with a senior member of the Center for Advanced Technology (along the same lines as DARPA) –
The capital, Delhi, only meets 32% of it’s energy requirements.
India as a whole is facing a shortage of about 88,000 megawatts. The Indo-American nuclear deal would cover about 12,000 of that.
India plans on building Thorium processing nuclear energy plants (there’s no nuclear waste material with an ADS based approach).
Bringing Companies Into The Fold
Boeing gets its own analyst at the Seattle FBI Fusion Center –
The center is one of dozens around the country created by state and local governments to share anti-terrorism intelligence. Boeing wants to set an example of how private owners of critical infrastructure can get involved in such centers to generate and receive criminal and anti-terrorism intelligence, said Richard Hovel, Boeing senior advisor on aviation and homeland security.