Skip to main content

EPS shows new anti-terrorist barrier

Terrorists using vehicles to drive into crowds of pedestrians has become an all-too-common phenomenon in recent years. Preventing them from carrying out such attacks is the aim of a new barrier system from EPS. The Italian company’s Hostile Vehicle Mitigation (HVM) system consists of a series of hexagonal bases, each holding a large vertical pillar. The system is made of steel throughout, with the individual bases able to be connected with steel pins to create a customised barrier.
March 21, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Stopping the threat: Luca Giubilato
Terrorists using vehicles to drive into crowds of pedestrians has become an all-too-common phenomenon in recent years. Preventing them from carrying out such attacks is the aim of a new barrier system from 8718 EPS.


The Italian company’s Hostile Vehicle Mitigation (HVM) system consists of a series of hexagonal bases, each holding a large vertical pillar. The system is made of steel throughout, with the individual bases able to be connected with steel pins to create a customised barrier.

The company says that the shape of the HVM was inspired by the Giant’s Causeway, a geological phenomenon on the coast of Northern Ireland, which consists of a series of interlocking basalt columns.

The company has chosen Intertraffic for the first showing of the new system. Engineer Luca Giubilato from EPS’s research and development team said that tests had shown the system capable of withstanding the impact of a 3.5-tonne truck being driven at it at 48km/h.

The basic weight of each unit is 281kg, but the strength and rigidity of the system can be further increased by slotting a solid steel weight inside each of the vertical pillars. That boosts the weight to 700kg.

The system is designed so that if an attacker’s vehicle rides up over the first column, it will slump on top of the pillars, rather than clearing them.

The individual modules are installed and removed using a hydraulic crane.

EPS has taken out a patent on the system, which has already aroused interest from potential customers in Switzerland and Norway, said Giubilato.

Stand 6.403

%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external www.eps.net false http://www.eps.net/ false false%>

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Big bonus with GeBE’s Compact Plus printer
    March 19, 2018
    GeBE now supplies its GeBE Compact Plus printer in a new design, with a pre-assembled presentation unit to prevent damage when handling. Until the final hand-over of the ticket, the presenter keeps the printout back, not allowing the user to pull it too early. If the printout is not taken within a specified time, the sensitive data remains protected by the return transport to the inside of the case using the paper-reject function.
  • Durable glass road studs
    March 3, 2014
    Company will use Intertraffic Amsterdam 2014 to highlight its tempered glass road studs. The company says its Siglite has the highest compressive strength in the world – over 40 tons for A class and over 60 tons for AA class. Another claim for the product is that it has the highest impact strength in the world - under tests to CNS13762, the test standard of Taiwan, a 1.04kg steel ball was dropped from a height of 1.5m without causing any cracking to the product. Siglite has also passed GB/T24725, ISO9001 an
  • Kapsch secures business with 5.9GHz expertise
    April 22, 2013
    Kapsch TrafficCom appears at the 23rd ITS America Annual Meeting with an important recent validation of the versatility of its 5.9 GHz DSRC multi-modal, integrated and interoperable technologies. Earlier this month, the company announced it had been selected by HNTB and the Michigan DOT (MDOT) to deliver a Truck Parking Connected-Vehicle System at five sites along the I-94 corridor in Michigan. The Kapsch solution consists of a 5.9 GHz Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) in-vehicle unit and roadside
  • Telegra’s new LED signs can withstand submersion
    March 26, 2014
    Telegra has gone to unusual lengths to demonstrate the sealing of its Nextgen series of variable message signs – and has immersed a working panel in a water column on its stand. Sealed to IP67/MENA 6 standard, the panels use groups of three single-coloured LEDs with the light output shaped by a bespoke lens system to enable a wide gamut of colours to be displayed on the signs.