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Library Briefing
Library of the European Parliament
Briefing No 083/2009
Railway safety and interoperability
The EU has been working to maintain and
In this briefing:
improve railway safety standards through
• Issue definition
development and implementation of
safety regulations and technical standards.
• Current EU policies
In the wake of the Viareggio tragedy which
• Railway safety performance in the EU
took place on June 29 2009, the European
• European Parliament debate
Commission has declared that it was
appropriate to review existing rail safety
• Commission's response
rules and practices, as well as the quality of
• Stakeholders' positions
their implementation and to consider
•
opportunities for improvement.
Main references
In a progress report on the railway safety
Issue definition
performance in the EU published in
September 2009, the Commission states
Under the Lisbon Treaty
1, transport policy is
that the segmentation resulting from
subject to the ordinary legislative
national requirements is still a barrier to a
procedure, in which the Council and the
Europe -wide rail area.
Parliament act together on Commission
proposals.
Following the recent tragedies, MEPs have
asked the Commission to table plans to
Railway safety
improve railway safety.
The purpose of the common transport
policy is to ensure safety on the EU's
The Commission envisages two main
railways by developing common safety
actions: distance-based controls for
targets and common safety methods. This
wagons and a strengthening of the
means greater harmonisation of national
European Railway Agency.
rules.
Stakeholders are supportive of the
Railway interoperability
European Commission's policy.
One of the aims of the European Union is
the establishment and development of
Trans-European Networks (TEN-T) in the
area of transport. Interoperability is the
ability of a rail system to facilitate safe and
uninterrupted movement of trains across
independent networks. This ability depends
on meeting essential requirements
concerning regulatory, technical and
operational conditions.
Source: © Aussierupe
Author: Jacques LeCarte
27/01/2010
Contact: 43445 - xxxxxxx.xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxxxxx.xx
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Library Briefing
Railway safety and interoperability
Progress towards interoperability is slow.
Safety Authorities to consider safety
Because of the long lifetime of rail
improvements, where appropriate.
infrastructure and rolling stock and the need
Safety Management Systems
to keep investment costs for the sector at an
Railway undertakings and infrastructure
acceptable level, radical changes towards
managers are obliged to implement risk
harmonised solutions are not possible.
control measures, where appropriate in
Current EU policies
cooperation with each other, and to
establish safety management systems (SMS):
Railway Safety Directive (RSD)
these systems must provide for all the
The Railway Safety Directive 2004/49/EC
procedures and processes required to
(RSD)
2 is the main piece of Community
ensure the safe operation and maintenance
legislation ensuring that railway safety is
of the railway.
maintained and improved.
Safety at the level of vehicles
The aim of the RSD is to ensure that safety
The SMS of railway undertakings must also
concerns are not used as a barrier to a fully
include processes for the control of
open market. The Directive recognises that
contractors and the supply of maintenance
safety levels in the EU are generally high, in
and material. This is important for railway
particular compared to road transport.
undertakings, particularly those which
operate freight wagons (including those
The RSD introduces the concept that the
which transport dangerous goods), when
operator of the railway system (i.e. the
they do not themselves carry out
owner and/or operator of the track) are fully
maintenance.
responsible for the safety of the system.
However, individual undertakings operating,
Entity in charge of maintenance
(for example, owners of wagons) are also
The Railway Safety Directive was amended
fully responsible for their own individual
in 2008 (Directive 2008/110/EC)
3, and the
parts.
responsibility for maintenance is now
assigned to a new player, the entity in
The Rail Safety Directive sets out
charge of maintenance (ECM), which needs
requirements for the establishment of
to be certified. Since the railway undertaking
independent National Safety Authorities
is responsible for safe operation, it has to get
aiming at awarding safety certificates to
an assurance that vehicles are maintained
railway undertakings and safety
and safe to operate. The certification of ECM
authorisations to infrastructure managers,
is designed to provide this assurance.
and ensuring supervision of railway
undertakings and infrastructure managers'
Railway Interoperability Directive (RID)
safety management systems.
This Directive
4 (Directive 2008/57/EC
19.7.2008) is a recast of Directive 2001/16/EC
The Directive also requires Member States to
applicable to the conventional rail system
investigate certain serious accidents and
and Directive 96/48/EC on the trans-
incidents. 'National Investigation Bodies' are
European high-speed rail system. These acts
mandated to carry out independent
will enter into force on 19 July 2010
investigation and to consider the lessons to
be learned from accidents. They must also
The RID governs the conditions promoting
make recommendations for the National
the interoperability of the trans-European
rail system, at the construction stage; launch
Author: Jacques LeCarte
27/01/2010
Contact: 43445 - xxxxxxx.xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxxxxx.xx
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Library Briefing
Railway safety and interoperability
of service; renewal, operation and
System project, which has been set up to
maintenance stages. Its provisions comply
create uniform signalling standards
with Directive 2004/45/EC on railway safety
throughout Europe.
and the health and safety of workers.
Railway safety performance in the EU
The goal of gradual achievement of rail
system interoperability is pursued through
In the EU, inland freight transport amounts
the harmonisation of technical standards.
to 2500 billion tons/kilometre per year. On
This Directive covers:
average, distances covered by rail transport
operations are longer than in road transport.
• Essential requirements with regard
In 2007, transport of dangerous goods
to safety, reliability, human health,
accounted for 5.8% of all inland freight
environmental protection, technical
transport. Due to the organisation of railway
compatibility and operation of the
transport, more than 60% of freight trains
system ;
include at least one wagon carrying
• The technical specifications for
dangerous goods.
interoperability (TSIs) adopted for
Figure 1 - EU Inland freight transport
each subsystem or part of subsystem
pursuant to this Directive;
Waterways
6%
•
Rail 18%
The corresponding European
specifications.
The railway network is broken down into
structural subsystems (energy, control-
command and signalling, rolling stock) or
functional subsystems (operation and traffic
management, maintenance and telematics
Road 76%
applications). Member States may request
that the Commission grant derogations and
Source: European Commission 2009
the Commission may decide to exclude
certain measures from the scope of the
Figure 2 - Rail track in select EU countries
Directive.
(millions km)
The European Railway Agency (ERA)
1200
The European Railway Agency was set up
1000
2006
under EC Regulation No 881/2004
5 to help
2007
create an integrated railway area by
800
reinforcing safety and interoperability. Its
600
main task is to develop economically viable
400
common technical standards and
approaches to safety, working closely with
200
railway sector stakeholders, national
0
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authorities and other concerned parties, as
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well as with the European institutions.
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The Agency also acts as the system authority
for the European Rail Traffic Management
Source: European Railway Agency 2009
Author: Jacques LeCarte
27/01/2010
Contact: 43445 - xxxxxxx.xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxxxxx.xx
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Library Briefing
Railway safety and interoperability
According to the European Rail Agency’s
rolling stock in motion. There is a 15%
historical database, from 1990 to 2005, 38
decrease in the total number of accidents
railway accidents involving dangerous
between 2006 and 2007. This is mainly due
goods caused 27 fatalities and 75 injuries.
to a decrease in reported number of
These 27 fatalities were caused by: level
collisions and fewer accidents to persons
crossing accidents (62%), collisions with
caused by rolling stock in motion.
trucks carrying dangerous goods (19%) and
The railways are generally safe but, with the
derailments (19%).
implementation of the RSD, Member States
The Viareggio accident in Tuscany on 29
will need to consolidate the requirements
June 2009 represented one of the most
into their existing legal frameworks, a
serious rail accidents in two decades.
process that will take some time.
Following a derailment a 14-wagon freight
The Progress report on the
train overturned. One of the wagons was
implementation of the Community rail
carrying dangerous goods; specifically
safety and interoperability directives
liquefied petroleum gas. It exploded,
causing 22 fatalities and a further 27 serious
On 8 September 2009 the European
injuries.
6
Commission published a report on the
implementation of the Community rail
Because the individual freight cars were
safety and interoperability directives
8
owned and registered in different Member
The report indicates that the railway system
States, the incident raised the issue of safety
in the EU is very safe and the organisational
and interoperability.
changes introduced under Community law
Figure 3 - Reported number of accidents
not only had no negative impact on safety,
per accident type (2006 - 2007)
but are expected to raise safety levels in the
short and medium terms.
2500
2006
For this reason, the Commission intends to
2000
2007
concentrate efforts on implementing
technical specifications that will deliver
1500
significant benefits in the short and medium
term, such as telematics applications in
1000
signalling, freight and passenger transport.
500
0
European Parliament debate
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ing
on
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lisio
Fires
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Pe
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In November 2009
9, the Committee for
Col
rai
Cr
De
Transport tabled an oral question with
Source: European Railway Agency 2009
plenary debate. After the Viareggio tragedy,
The European Railway Agency's report
MEPs asked the Commission to explain how
The most recent ERA report
7 indicates that
it plans to ensure that EU rail freight safety
the number of significant collisions,
standards are fully upheld.
derailments and fires is low compared to
The debate took place on 24 November
accidents that occur at level crossings or
2009 and was not closed by the adoption of
relate to accidents to persons caused by
a resolution.
Author: Jacques LeCarte
27/01/2010
Contact: 43445 - xxxxxxx.xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxxxxx.xx
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Railway safety and interoperability
Commission's response
significant benefits in the short and medium
term, such as telematics applications in
During the EP's plenary debate, the
signalling, freight and passenger transport
European Commission announced that it
will review rail safety rules and practices as
well as the quality of their implementation
Stakeholders' positions
and will consider all opportunities for
The Community of European Railway and
improvement, where necessary.
Infrastructure Companies (CER)
11 support
Commission implementing legislation on
the European Commission’s and the
interoperability (the so-called Technical
European Railway Agency’s approach to
Specifications for Interoperability, or TSIs) is
improve railway safety through harmonised
expected to be completed in 2010 as far as
measures at European level. For the CER,
the Trans-European Transport Network
only this will bring a relevant contribution to
(TEN-T) is concerned. The increasing amount
safety without causing damages to the
of interoperable infrastructure and rolling
railway business.
stock and the limited number of
derogations requested by Member States
The CER believes it is absolutely necessary to
indicate that overall the existing TSIs are
follow a European approach towards safety
being successfully implemented.
and to discourage individual Member State
initiatives which aim to introduce more
The Commission intends to concentrate
severe rules on the maintenance of axles
efforts on implementing those technical
and safety checks. This would be ineffective
specifications that will deliver significant
on the safety side and threaten the survival
benefits in the short and medium term, such
of the rail freight business due to additional
as telematics applications in signalling,
costs.
freight and passenger transport.
To further improve safety of what is already
Vice-President Antonio Tajani
10 has insisted
by far the safest mode of land transport, the
on two important elements to further
European Commission and the European
improve the safety level; firstly, a move
Railway Agency should continue to promote
towards a system that includes distance-
the overall maintenance quality of rail
based controls for train wagons. Secondly,
freight axles and wheel sets in Europe.
the need to strengthen the powers of the
European Railway Agency by allowing it to
CER also supports the set-up of a task force
take part in national investigations of
on wheel set and axle maintenance for
accidents".
freight wagons, guided by the European
At present, railway infrastructure is shared
Railway Agency. The task force should focus
for both freight and passenger services, for
on European harmonisation of acceptable
both practical and economic reasons. Mixed
minimum criteria for wheel sets and axles.
traffic, says the Commission, needs to be
CER furthermore proposes to strengthen the
managed in the safest possible way, and
role of the European Railway Agency as the
infrastructure and rolling stock must be
auditing and supervising body of the
properly maintained.
national safety authorities. Strong and
For this reason, the Commission intends to
precise certification processes including the
concentrate efforts on implementing
entities in charge of maintenance and
technical specifications that will deliver
workshops must be set up.
Author: Jacques LeCarte
27/01/2010
Contact: 43445 - xxxxxxx.xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxxxxx.xx
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Railway safety and interoperability
UNIFE
12 - the Association of the European
CLECAT
13 notes that "non-discriminatory
Rail Industry and the European freight
access to infrastructure" is indeed a key
forwarders' association CLECAT support
means of promoting efficient use of the
both the Railway Directive on Safety and on
European rail network infrastructure and a
Interoperability. However, they believe that
precondition of full and fair competition.
powerful state-run companies tend to
overcharge operators for using Main references
infrastructure. The fact that EU 'priority
European Commission (2009)
Commission Report on
corridor' projects are often built according
Railway Safety and Interoperability IP/09/1282, Brussels, 8
to short-term national political interests
September 2009
seriously hampers the development of a
Communication from the Commission to the Council and
competitive European rail freight industry.
the European Parliament on a progress report on the
implementation of the railway safety directive and of the
Railway interoperability directives (COM (2009) 464(final),
8 September2009
Disclaimer
This Briefing is a short overview of the subject, and is not intended to take the place of more complex original research.
The document does not in any way reflect the opinion or position of the author or of the European Parliament.
Endnotes
1 Chapter IV of the Lisbon Treaty
2
Directive 2004(49)EC on safety on the Community's Railways
3
UK Office of Rail Regulation Explanatory note on the Railway Safety Directive
4
Railway Interoperability Directive
5 Regulation establishing the
European Railway Agency (2004)
6 ERADIS (2009
) Accident description for Viarreggio
7
Railway Safety Performance, September 2009
8
Commission's report on safety and interoperability, September 2009
9
EP oral question with debate
10
Antonio Tajani Vice-President della Commissione europea responsabile per i Trasporti Conferenza "Railway Safety – The way
forward". Discorso d'apertura Conferenza "Railway Safety – The way forward" Bruxelles, 8 settembre 2009 [SPEECH/09/367].
11
Railways safety needs a European approach,,CER, 8 September 2009.
12
UNIFE's press release 23 April 2009.
13
CLECAT's position on a European rail network for a competitive freight
Author: Jacques LeCarte
27/01/2010
Contact: 43445 - xxxxxxx.xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxxxxx.xx
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Document Outline