Safety
Safety Safety in Railway TunnelsSafety
Objective
To ensure a high-level of safety, Rail Infrastructure Managers (IMs) are committed to delivering a safe, high performing and reliable rail network. Regarding safety, their activities are regulated in accordance with the European legislation on safety, i.e. the Railway Safety Directive (EU) 2016/798 and the related Common Safety Methods (CSMs) and, where relevant, the Directive on the Transport of Dangerous Goods 2008/68/EC. All actors operating in the railway system, including IMs and railway undertakings (RUs), cooperate effectively to bear the full responsibility for the safety of their networks / operations within the wider railway system.
On European level, the EU Agency for Railways (ERA) establishes and revises regulations in order to improve the safety of the European railway system.
EIM in action
- EIM organises a Safety WG where IMs share best practices and information on their respective ‘Safety Management System’ (SMS) as well as on other topics related to railway safety;
- EIM’s Safety WG contributes to all safety-related activities of ERA;
- EIM cooperates with the entire rail sector to achieve improvements in railway regulation and safety, including participation in the ‘System Safety Management Group’ (SSMG);
- EIM’s Safety WG monitors the Joint Network Secretariat (JNS) urgent/normal procedure in order to improve the safety among the members of the EIM SAF WG.
2020
- EIM with CER contributed to the application of Regulation (EU) 445/2011 on the ‘Entity in Charge of Maintenance’ (ECM);
- EIM and its members co-signed the ERA ‘European Railway Safety Culture Declaration’;
- EIM’s experts participated in the development of the CSM ASLP.
- EIM’s experts followed ERA’s ‘Human & Organisational Factors’ (HOF) Network;
- Some EIM members attended the ‘Safety Leadership Training’ held by ERA;
- EIM’s experts are following the ‘AsBo Cooperation Group’, which has the task to harmonise the work of the assessment bodies (AsBo);
- EIM’s experts followed the ERA WP on the ‘Transport of Dangerous Goods’ (TDG);
Outlook 2021
- The work on the new legislation on CSM ASLP will be part of a public consultation at the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021; The work on CSM ASLP will continue in 2021.
- EIM will continue supporting ERA in its activities to promote the safety culture;
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EIM will continue to work with all relevant ERA WPs (CSM ASLP; HOF; TDG and AsBo Cooperation).
Directive (EU) 2016/798
Safety in Railway Tunnels
Objective
Railway tunnels present a higher risk for the safety of train passengers and on-board staff during operations due to their confined space. Fire, derailment, long stops and other accidents require preventive safety measures to minimise the risk and increase the comfort of passengers. In addition to the Railway Safety Directive (EU) 2016/798 applying to all infrastructures, specific requirements for tunnels have been developed in the Regulation (EU) 1303/2014 on ‘Technical Specification for Interoperability for Safety in Railway Tunnels’ (TSI SRT). The TSI SRT establishes safety specifications and recommendations for all tunnels.
EIM in action
- EIM’s Working Group on ‘Safety in Railway Tunnels’ (SRT WG) discusses common issues on tunnel safety and follows the workstream of the EU Agency for Railways (ERA);
- EIM experts are also actively engaged in the ERA Topical Working Party for the TSI SRT;
- EIM promotes the dialogue between Rail Infrastructure Managers (IMs), Railway Undertakings (RUs), and emergency response services to ensure that EU Member States adopt a coherent approach between risk mitigation, investments and the feasibility of projects.
2020
- EIM’s SRT WG responded to the public consultation of the EU Agency for Railways (ERA) on the revision of the TSI SRT;
- EIM submitted a proposal to the ERA to review the characteristics of exposed cables in tunnels. This position was endorsed by ERA.
- A new version of the application guide was published in July 2020.
Outlook 2021
- EIM will continue assessing the way the revised TSI is implemented, so that the advantages and disadvantages will be taken into account during the next revision;
- EIM’s SRT WG will also take action if the results of the risk-based paragraphs in the revised TSI lead to lower safety levels in the future;
- EIM’s SRT WG will closely monitor ERA’s new TSI revision process,to make sure that a fair and democratic way of dealing with CRs and upcoming revisions is followed, in opposition to a fear for a centralistic approach by ERA.