International symposium on Tunnel Safety and Security (ISTSS)

Safety and Security have been high on the scientific agenda for decades, no more so than after the tragic attacks of nine-eleven in New York. The success of the International Symposium on Tunnel Safety and Security (ISTSS) is a tribute to the pressing need for continued international research and dialogue on these issues, perhaps in particular connected to complex infrastructure such as tunnels and tunnel networks. At SP, we are very proud to have been able to establish a regular ISTSS tunnel symposium that normally attracts over 200 delegates from all parts of the world. The following symposiums have been arranged or is planned within the series of ISTSS (the co-organiser together with SP for each symposium is given within parenthesis):

• The 1st ISTSS symposium was held in Greenbelt, USA (National Infrastructure Institute’s Centre for Infrastructure Expertise, NI2-CIE)
• The 2nd ISTSS was organised in Madrid 2006 (Intevia,Spain and NI2-CIE)
• The 3rd ISTSS symposium was organised in Stockholm 2008 (NI2-CIE and Brandskyddslaget AB, Sweden)
• The 4th ISTSS will be held in Frankfurt am Main in 17-19th of March 2010 (Frankfurt am Main Fire and Rescue Services and NI2-CIE)

This is the second time we will have a Call for Papers with submissions from all over the world. We are pleased that so many authors have shown an interest in contributing and believe that the quality of the papers is a testament to the calibre of research that is on-going around the world. It is our hope that ISTSS 2010 will provide you with all the latest knowledge found in the field of fire safety and security in undergrounds structures. In order to guarantee the quality of the papers accepted, a scientific committee (lank) has recently been created with many of the leading experts in the field of fire and security.

The focus has mainly been on fires and safety in tunnels, but it is shifting more and more towards security. The new terrorist threats and focus on how to solve these problems is increasing. The need for expertise in this area for underground infrastructure in general is continuously increasing. We urge scientists and practicing engineers in this field to consider ISTSS as good quality forum for presenting their results. The aim is to make ISTSS as a natural forum for scientists and practicing engineers to exchange information in the future.