Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Achieving Europe-wide safety through technical
harmonization
Ralf Schweinsberg
Vicepresident Federal Railway Authority,
Eisenbahn-Bundesamt [EBA], Heinemannstraße 6, D 53175 Bonn
poststelle@eba.bund.de
Abstract. Technical and operational harmonization is beyond lib-
eralization one of the key elements of the EU transport policy for
the railway market. The main legal basis are the European Interop-
erability Directives and the Railway Safety Directive which regulate
the certification and authorization processes for Railway Systems.
Mandatory Technical Specification for Interoperability that are elab-
orated by working groups of the European Railway Agency (ERA)
define for the different subsystems (Infrastructure, Rolling Stock etc.)
harmonized criteria or refer to European Standards, which become
hereby also binding. The system of TSI follows a modular approach.
A new locomotive has for example to fulfilll the relevant require-
ments of the TSI Rolling Stock, Control Command and Signalling,
Persons with reduced mobility, Safety in Railway Tunnels, Opera-
tion and Noise. Future innovations should not be blocked by TSI.
Due to this only those requirements should be regulated in TSI that
are absolutely necessary for interoperability. The harmonization by
voluntary European Standards which are listed in a TSI Applica-
tion Guide support mutual acceptance in the same way but has the
advantage of more flexibility in case of new technical solutions and
complete the picture of necessary European harmonization.
The requirements in the TSI are checked by so called Notified Bodies.
The result has to be accepted in the whole European Union and can
without good reasons not be questioned on national level. This means
that here we have a “European level of safety”. But as long as not
all requirements are harmonized and the interface to the national
infrastructures need to be considered, an additional authorization for
placing into service by the National Safety Authority of the Member
States, in which the subsystem is placed into service, is necessary.
This authorization include additional national requirements that are
not harmonized and the check of the coherency between the different
subsystems, i. E. between a Rolling Stock and the Infrastructure. To
avoid discrimination, the Member States are obliged to notify these
National Safety Rules to the European commission in order to be
published in the Internet. The future tool is the European Database
NOTIF for the notification of national railway safety and technical
rules. In this respect NOTIF is, as an intermediate step, the basis for
ensuring transparency regarding those regulations that are still not
harmonized.
