Peer review: Libor Lochman
Executive Director, Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies
Today’s European railway system, as a compound of inhomogeneous technical networks, has been developing on a national level for more than 170 years and is characterised by a huge variety of technical solutions. This vast complexity has led to a constant and significant cost increase when purchasing new components, or renewing or upgrading them.
So far the various standardisation initiatives, as well as a lack of co-ordination within the rail operating community, have not brought the needed breakthrough in cutting costs. The manufacturers and suppliers are increasing the variety of components within any part of the rail subsystem (such as rolling stock, infrastructure, and control command and signalling systems) being purchased by the rail operating community.
The need for a significant cost reduction is evident in order to keep the competitive capability of railway undertakings and infrastructure managers among others such as keepers and carriers. A radical cost reduction through standardisation is needed, enhanced by a closer co-operation of the rail operating community in the field of procurement.
Rail standardisation is undertaken by various players in Europe. On the one hand, mandatory standardisation (if referred in the TSI) is undertaken by The European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) and the European Committee for electro technical Standardisation (CENELEC). On the other hand, voluntary sector standardisation is elaborated and maintained by the International Union of Railways (UIC) and the Association of the European Rail Industry (UNIFE). Most partners in the sector (for example, railway undertakings, infrastructure managers and suppliers) have been developing standards/functional requirements on company level.
CEN & CENELEC concentrate most of their efforts on one major deliverable - the European Standard (EN). This document shall be given the status of national standard in all CEN member countries, who must also withdraw any conflicting national standards. Besides European Standards, CEN produces other deliverables with specific characteristics and objectives. They are the Technical Specifications (TS), Technical Reports (TR), and Guides and Workshop Agreements (CWA).
A TecRec is a UIC/UNIFE standard of which the primary field of application is the European rolling stock domain and its interfaces with other subsystems.
Pending the publication of a European standard, a TecRec serves as a common comprehensive standard, approved by UIC and UNIFE and therefore recognised as a voluntary sector standard aimed at speeding up the standardisation process - thereby improving the competitiveness of the European railway system.
UIC Rail Standards are elaborated and maintained by the UIC. Known as Leaflets, these are applied (according to their conten) by railway undertakings, infrastructure managers, industry, public works undertakings, and so on.
On company level, railway undertakings, infrastructure man-agers, manufacturers and suppliers elaborate, maintain and use their own set of functional requirements in accordance with their specific business requirements and safety management systems, and which are not covered elsewhere. Some European railway undertakings successfully work together in the EuroSpec consortium, with the aim of providing common voluntary technical specifications - as an explicit set of requirements -for rolling stock components.
On a company basis, the work will continue to draft and maintain basic functional requirements for any component of the railway system. This set of basic functional requirements is the major input for their call for tender. Preferably, the companies decide to agree more and more on a common set of functional requirements. The major focus is again on the call for tender.
As a long-term-perspective, a European Rail Standardisation Council (comprising all sector associations) should be established to recommend drafting Technical Recommendations to accelerate the standardisation at European level.
The Technical Recommendation will describe a minimum set of functional requirements on which the sector can agree. These will already be drafted in the format of the EN.
Standardisation is a mean to maximise compatibility, interoperability, safety, repeatability and quality. The approach is needed to significantly reduce costs in the railway sector. Using standards and a harmonised set of requirements in the rail operating community’s procurement process will increase the reliability of products, simplify the tender process in time and cost (as a result of fewer variations in requirements between tenders), and lead to standardised products and cost reduction due to harmonisation of train operators’ requirements.
Standards are not to be seen as an obstacle to efficiency, but more as a tool to achieve both safety and efficiency. With the community working together, having reliable and cost-efficient products available (that are both safe and easily maintainable at the same time) can be achieved.
