Safety

Objective

To ensure a high-level of safety, rail Infrastructure Managers (IMs) are committed to delivering a safe, high performing and reliable rail network. Regarding safety, their activities are regulated in accordance with the European legislation on safety, i.e. the Railway Safety Directive (EU) 2016/798 and the related Common Safety Methods (CSMs) and, where relevant, the Directive on the Transport of Dangerous Goods 2008/68/EC. All actors operating in the railway system, including IMs and railway undertakings (RUs), cooperate effectively to bear the full responsibility for the safety of their networks / operations within the wider railway system.

On European level, the EU Agency for Railways (ERA) establishes and revises regulations to improve the safety of the European railway system.

EIM actions in 2024

EIM’s WG “Safety” participated in the testing of the preliminary ISS-database which is being developed as part of the new CSM ASLP.
EIM’s WG “Safety” followed the ‘AsBo Cooperation Group’, which has the task to harmonise the work of the assessment bodies (AsBo).
EIM’s WG “Safety” participated in the development of AsBo assessment scheme.
EIM’s WG “Safety” followed the ERA WP on the ‘Transport of Dangerous Goods’ (TDG).
EIM experts participated in the re-opened JNS procedure ‘Cross Wind’ (Great Belt Bridge accidents in Denmark)
EIM participated in the development of the ERA CSM Vision document. This document outlines a proposal for a revision of the CSMs.
EIM’s WG “Safety” shared lessons learnt from railway accidents.

Outlook 2025

EIM WG Safety will be involved in the EC-proposal for the revision of the CSMs
EIM’s WG “Safety” will contribute to the CSM ASLP 2024 Workplan in the Group of Analysts.
EIM’s WG “Safety” will continue supporting ERA in its activities to promote the safety culture.
EIM’s WG “Safety” will continue working with all relevant ERA WPs (CSM ASLP; HOF; TDG and AsBo Cooperation).
EIM’s WG “Safety” will continue participating in the developing of the AsBo assessment scheme.
EIM’s WG “Safety” will continue sharing best practice within the railway sector.

Directive (EU) 2016/798 of the European Parliament and of the Council on railway safety (recast)

EU LEGISLATION INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGERS

Objective

Railway tunnels present a higher risk for the safety of train passengers and on-board staff during operations due to their confined space. Derailments, collisions and particularly fire can have potentially catastrophic consequences. Hence, preventive and mitigating safety measures are necessary to reduce specific tunnel risks. In addition to the Railway Safety Directive (EU) 2016/798 applying to all infrastructures, specific requirements for tunnels have consequently been developed in the Regulation (EU) 1303/2014 on ‘Technical Specification for Interoperability for Safety in Railway Tunnels’ (TSI SRT). The TSI SRT defines a coherent set of tunnel specific measures for the infrastructure, energy, rolling stock, control-command and signalling and operation subsystems, thus delivering an optimal level of safety in tunnels in the most cost-efficient way.

EIM in actions in 2024

Noted and to ERA communicated absence of TSI SRT in proposed outline of revision cycle.
Noted and to ERA communicated the relationship between the recommendation to the Commission on military escort coaches and the TSI SRT.
Provided comments regarding scope, interest and deliverable timeline to the Commission revision Request regarding TSI’s.

Exchanged knowledge and best practices regarding (among others) fire resistance of tunnel structures, rescue intervention in longer tunnels with independent track tubes, TSI category of lines and operational rules related to trains running in tunnels, etc

Outlook 2025

Put pressure on ERA to speed up the process of revising the current TSI SRT.
EIM’s WG SRT will again start meeting regularly; four times/year (one physical meet)
EIM’s WG SRT will prioritize formulating CR’s given low priority in Commission revision of TSI SRT, initially focusing on fire protection of exposed cables.
EIM’s WG SRT will prioritize knowledge and best practices exchanges, e.g., by presenting and discussing lessons learned from past incidents, technical methods, research and development, etc.