Making the railway system
work better for society.
24/01/2017
Dear Sir / Madam,
Many thanks for your request for documents relating to the extension of the Interoperability Regulations in
the United Kingdom with particular focus on the impact assessment performed. Below, our answer to this
request.
The following links provide the access to the various documents concerning the revisions of the UK
Interoperability Regulations. These documents may contain the information that you are seeking:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/background-to-rail-interoperability
This page will give you links to the detailed regulations and the Impact Assessments relating to the UK. The
relevant regulations that you seek are the 2011, 2013 and 2014 (Amendment), in particular see these links:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/3066/contents/made (2011)
o
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/3066/impacts (UK Impact Assessment)
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3023/contents/made (2013 amendment)
o
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3023/pdfs/uksiem_20133023_en.pdf
(Explanatory Memorandum stating that no impacts compared to the 2011 legislation would
be minimal)
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/3217/contents/made (2014 amendment)
o (Explanatory Memorandum stating that no impact had been made as there were
“no
impact on the costs of business, the public sector, third sector organisations, regulators or
consumers” foreseen)
You will also need to look at the Railways (Access, Management and Licensing of Railway Undertakings)
Regulations 2016, see this link:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/645/regulation/19/made#regulation-19-16
o
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2016/153/pdfs/ukia_20160153_en.pdf (UK Impact
Assessment)
As far as we understand the
UK Impact Assessments regarding the legislative measures for extending the
Interoperability Regulations have followed normal UK Practice for impact assessment as outlined in the
Green Book and this can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/220541/green_b
ook_complete.pdf
As indicated in the Agency’s Recommendation and report on Scope Extension from 2009 impact
assessment undertaken by the Agency should be done for each TSI (Technical Specifications for
Interoperability):
http://www.era.europa.eu/Document-Register/Documents/IU-ExtScope-20090807-ERA-
ExecutiveDirector-Recommendation-V1-00-EN.pdf (Agency Recommendation on scope extension)
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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR RAILWAYS
http://www.era.europa.eu/Document-Register/Documents/IU-ExtScope-20090807-FinalReport.pdf
(Agency Report on scope extension, page 49 outlines the principles on impact assessment)
Over the following period the Agency developed with dedicated working parties recommendations for
revision of the various TSIs as required (including proposals for extending their scope) accompanied by an
impact assessment. Rail sector and national authority representatives (incl. UK experts) participated
systematically in these Working Parties. Below, the revised TSIs within the context of scope extension are
listed:
Control Command and Signalling (CCS) TSI
Energy (ENE) TSI
Infrastructure (INF) TSI
Locomotives and Passenger Rolling Stock (LOC PAS) TSI
Noise (NOI) TSI
Persons with Reduced Mobility (PRM) TSI
Rolling Stock - Freight Wagons (WAG) TSI
Safety in Railway Tunnels (SRT) TSI
Telematic Applications for Freight (TAF) TSI
For the TSI specific Impact Assessments, the Agency has followed the
European Commission Impact
Assessment Guidelines that can be found at:
http://ec.europa.eu/smart-regulation/guidelines/ug_chap3_en.htm
If in these TSI specific Impact Assessments there were impacts affecting the UK, then these would have
been referred to in the Impact Assessment Report. Otherwise, the focus in these impact assessments takes
an overall perspective in terms of advantages and disadvantages as well as per stakeholder group. We
would be happy to share these TSI specific Impact Assessments if this would be of interest to you. However,
as noted above there would be relative limited information about individual countries, including the UK.
Of importance for the overall impacts relating to scope extension the Agency’s report from 2009 mentions
that with the exception of infrastructure more than 95% of the railway assets would already be covered by
the existing scope of the Interoperability Directive as shown in the Table below (Table 4 from the 2009
report). This implies that the possible cost impact of scope extension would be lower.
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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR RAILWAYS
Within each TSI it is possible to include so-called Specific Cases that are provisions included to deal with
particular circumstances prevailing in a particular Member State. As such, these would allow Member
States avoiding adverse impacts of a TSI, which could in certain cases also be relevant in relation to scope
extension. A Specific Case should be supported by technical and economic arguments prior to be
considered and incorporated in the TSI drafting. In relation to your request, it should be noted that for
some of the TSIs listed above there would be UK Specific Cases. We would suggest that you approach the
ORR and/or the Department for Transport with a UK Freedom of Information request to ascertain what
impact assessments they had produced for any UK Specific Cases.
We hope that the above information points you in the right direction. If you require further information
please do not hesitate to contact us again. As this is a broad field of activity it would be important to be as
specific as possible concerning your information requirements.
Yours sincerely
Torben Holvad
Corporate Management and Evaluation Unit (CME)
Economic Evaluation Team
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