The functioning and viability of modern societies is heavily depended upon the continuous and uninterruptible operation of critical infrastructures. Surface transportation systems are in the heart of the daily lives of millions of citizens globally. As such, they are open and freely accessible by design and in the past have been exploited for terrorism attacks. Like many critical infrastructures, different multimodal and heterogeneous transportation networks are interconnected as integral part of larger synergistic systems forming a "network of networks". These underlying and often concealed interconnections between network assets enable adverse effects to manifest at assets that are initially unaffected by a security incident. The present paper introduces a holistic Risk Assessment Framework for heterogeneous, transportation networks that is applicable at a strategic level, where risk is propagated between interconnected networks through an "Incident Propagation Matrix" taking into account the nature of the interconnection and the type of threat. The proposed methodology views and models the risk analysis process from the perspective of the network operator and emergency responders and emphasizes the reduction of the impacts on business continuity. g . l e v e n t a k i s · a . s f e t s o s · n . m o u s t a k i d i s · n . n i k i t a k o s · a r i s k a s s e s s m e n t f r a m e w o r k f o r i n t e r c o n n e c t e d a n d . . . · pp 811 -819 o r g a n i z a t i o n , t e c h n o l o g y a n d m a n a g e m e n t i n c o n s t r u c t i o n · a n i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l · 6(2)2013 812

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Surface transportation systems crucially define the daily functionality and operations of modern societies: they are utilised by millions of commuters worldwide, on a daily basis. As such, they are open and freely accessible by design and in the past have been exploited for malicious purposes and have also been severely disrupted by natural phenomena. Like many modern critical infrastructures, multimodal and heterogeneous transportation networks are interconnected as integral part of larger synergistic systems forming a "network of networks".The present manuscript introduces a holistic concept for the protection of heterogeneous transportation networks that is applicable on a strategic level. The basis of the proposed model is the concept that security incidents may be propagated between assets of interconnected networks. The proposed methodology emphasizes the strategic level protection both from the perspective of the network operator and the emergency responder, linking all phases of the disaster cycle into a unique concept of operations.