Reinforcement of safety requirements for freight cars as from 2011
27-Oct-2010
The implementation of the EU Directive on railway safety requires specific measures to be taken for the maintenance of railway vehicles that not only maintain, but continuously improve the safety level. In particular, the accident of Viareggio in June 2009 has prompted the Supervisory Authority in the EU as well as in Switzerland to further reinforce the safety requirements for the maintenance of the about 800,000 freight cars in Europe.
Requirements of wagon keepers
Article 14a (1) of the Railway Safety Directive (Dir. 2004/49/EC, as inserted by Dir. 2008/110/EC) requires that
- an ”Entity in Charge of Maintenance”, in short ECM, is to be assigned to every vehicle and,
- that this ECM is to be registered in the national vehicle register (NVR) at the latest by November 2010 [art. 33 of the Interoperability Directive (Dir. 2008/57/EC) in conjunction with article 4.3 of the Annex to the Commission Decision of 9 November 2007 (2007/756/EC)].
Rail Cargo Austria will implement Directive with effect on 1 January 2011
Starting from 1 January 2011, Rail Cargo Austria will exclusively carry freight cars that
- are assigned to a certified ECM or
- to an ECM with ECM self declaration.
For its own fleet of vehicles, Rail Cargo Austria will implement any measures in time to meet the requirements as well as for the assignment to an ECM.
Duties of the ECMs
The entity in charge of maintenance – ECM – has to ensure by means of a maintenance system that the vehicles are maintained in accordance with the maintenance schedule developed for the respective vehicle as well as with the applicable rules and regulations.
Memorandum of Understanding signed by eleven states
The Safety Directive stipulates that the ECMs are to be certified. In order to allow a short term implementation of this ECM certification – i.e. prior to the incorporation of Dir. 2008/110/EC into the national law of the EU member states by December 2012 – the “Memorandum of Understanding“ (MoU ECM) was first signed by ten EU member states on 14 May 2009. The MoU ECM “for the establishment of a common system for the certification of the entities in charge of freight car maintenance“ was signed by Belgium, Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Romania, as well as Hungary, and - in early 2010 - also by Switzerland.
Starting from 2011, the railway undertakings in the eleven states may only carry freight cars the keepers of which meet the requirements, which must be confirmed by an ECM certificate or a self declaration.