International & UK Railway News Tuesday 24th September 2013

CER - The Voice of European Railways

Press Release

Brussels, 23 September 2013

 

Nothing is older than yesterday – Is the Council of the European Union shunting the Safety Directive on the wrong track?

The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) reiterates its support for the Fourth Railway Package’s Technical Pillar ahead of the Council Transport meeting that will take place on 10 October. Therefore, CER encourages the Council to push the Safety Directive on the right track, building on what has been achieved so far.   Safety Certification – The Single Safety Certificate (Article 10) The rail sector calls for a European Railway Agency (ERA) that will act in future as the EU’s single railway authority and as one-stop-shop for safety certifications. These tasks shall be performed in close cooperation with the National Safety Authorities (NSA), especially in order to assess the right understanding of all remaining national rules.   Although the abovementioned principle is supported by a strong majority of delegations in the Council, an alternative idea has been nonetheless developed by some Member States. According to this alternative idea each National Safety Authority (NSA) acts as a one stop-shop in coordination with the other NSAs concerned. A given NSA - acting as “leading NSA” - would be the coordinator for ensuring the correct application of processes for vehicle authorisation and/or safety certification. This primus inter pares approach would be based mainly on mutual respect. In case of disagreement there would be no independent referee to call, and a decision might not be taken because of “equal” parties not finding a common solution. As a result, the extremely inefficient status quo would not be overcome, but simply continued under a different legal framework. That’s why this proposal should not be further developed and needs to be absolutely rejected.   Safety Management Systems (Article 9) Infrastructure managers and railway undertakings shall establish their safety management systems to ensure that the rail system (1) can achieve at least the Common Safety Targets (CSTs), (2) is in conformity with safety requirements laid down in the Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs), and (3) to make sure that the relevant parts of the Common Safety Methods (CSMs) and notified rules are applied.   CER expresses that there is no need to standardise safety management systems (SMSs). The fact that these systems are currently not standardised is advantageous as it encourages infrastructure managers and railway undertakings to carefully and comprehensively reflect about the contents of their SMSs and not simply to tick pre-cooked lists of multiple-choice answers. A harmonised and uniform,  ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach for the contents of SMS would be inappropriate as the circumstances, the scope and business arrangements are different for each actor and could not be properly reflected in a standard drafted by a European Standardisation Body. A bad reform could well risk reducing the overall safety level of the rail system!   National Rules in the field of Safety (Article 8) In the future, the streamlined European safety certification as well as the authorisation process shall be based on a clear set of rules integrating technical specifications for interoperability, common safety methods and notified national rules exclusively. Member states might decide not to notify rules and restrictions of a strictly local nature. In such cases, Member states shall mention these rules and restrictions in the register of infrastructure. Other means but the register of infrastructure would be inappropriate and would create a lack of transparency in the certification processes.   CER Executive Director Libor Lochman added: “The European Railway Agency acting in future as the EU’s single railway authority and one-stop-shop for safety certifications is the only solution to overcome the current challenging solution. If the concept of the ‘leading NSA’ will be further promoted, it would bring no real change and all expectations from the Fourth Railway Package’s Technical Pillar would be vanished, the current lengthy and expensive procedures will remain conserved and their harmonisation will not be achieved. As a result the Railway Undertakings will still be exposed to unacceptable high costs”. International Railway Journal A major new freight facility joined the British railway network in the early hours of September 24, when the first revenue-earning train departed from the new London Gateway deep-sea container port and logistics park. BRAZILIAN President Mrs Dilma Rousseff and transport minister Mr César Borges inaugurated Latin American Logistics' (ALL) new Reais 150m ($US 68m) intermodal freight facility near Rondonópolis in the state of Mato Grosso on September 19. THE extension of Paris tram-train Line T4 to Clichy-sous-Bois and Montfermeil has moved a step closer after the €214m project was granted public utility status by Seine-Saint-Denis council. THE government of Quebec announced on September 20 that it plans to invest at least $C 1.5bn ($US 1.46bn) in the extension of the Montreal metro Blue Line. www.progressiverailroading.com US News APTA: Public transportation ridership rose in second quarter U.S. Class I workforce contracted again in August Corps of Engineers releases final environmental statement on Massachusetts' South Coast Rail project MTA appoints 'blue ribbon' panel to review safety at its three railroads NS reassigns seven execs, sets another loading record at Virginia coal transload facility KCS helps commemorate opening of Ray-Carroll grain elevator in Missouri CN, Teamsters Canada Rail Conference disagree on potential impacts of Class I's proposed contract concessions M-1 Rail sets up business council to advise Detroit streetcar construction process BNSF to bolster infrastructure, add capacity in Illinois   www.railway-technology.com Updates Bombardier and AIT develop new optical 3D sensor system for trams Germany-based rail-equipment maker Bombardier Transportation, in partnership with Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), has developed a new optical 3D sensor system for light rail vehicles to lower the risk of collisions.          CAMC, China Railway and Yapilo to build 148km railway line in central Bolivia CAMC, China Railway and Yapilo have secured contracts to construct a 148km railway line in central Bolivia with an investment of $250m, financed by La Paz. Russia and North Korea open 54km cross-border freight railway line A new 54km cross-border freight railway line linking the Russian town of Khasan and the North Korean port city of Rajin has been opened for faster cargo shipments between Asia and Europe.          Rocky Mountaineer selects GuestLogix onboard retail technology platform Rocky Mountaineer, the operator of five rail routes through North America's Pacific Northwest and the Canadian Rockies, has selected GuestLogix's onboard retail technology platform for use on its trains. Shedmaster Railway News High Speed Rail Conference - Los Angeles Tiranë tram plans - Railway Gazette World Heritage & Railway News Mallard 75 - National Railway Museum Autumn Steam Gala - Cambrian Railways Theme « West Somerset Railway Railway Engineering News Tunnelling - Crossrail Ship diversion prompts first train from London Gateway - Railway Gazette