Cross-acceptance for rolling stock and railway equipment is only “a step” towards European railway interoperability. However, in theory things are not as clear as on paper, in the sense that the harmonization and certification of railway vehicles and equipment impose on Member States numerous regulations which they cannot all agree on, whether it’s because of the provisions stipulated in the national and European legislation (the Directive on Interoperability and the Directive on Safety vary through their nature) or because of the infrastructure capacity.
European railway representatives, associations and industry suppliers, transport operators and infrastructure managers, all believe that when it comes to the authorization procedures we need a better coordination between the National Railway Safety Authorities in order to ensure a progressive harmonisation of European procedures.
14 years since the publication of the first Directive on European Railway Interoperability, the landscape of rail transport underwent major changes.
The international dimension of rail is becoming even more prevalent as operators offer more and more services crossing borders. In parallel, the railway manufacturing industry is increasingly offering its products and services at a European scale, not least including technologies designed to enable a borderless European railway system.
“If the rolling stock leased is capable of cross-acceptance, which is likely, then it will save operators from seeking approvals in several member states; leasing generally allows operators to avoid the capital cost of new equipment and might allow them to obtain short term hire periods. Of course, competing with incumbents who own rolling stock long since written off may be difficult”, recently explained us Lord Tony Berkeley, president of European Rail Freight Association (ERFA).
More confidence between Railway Safety Authorities
Cross-acceptance by mutual agreement between member states is also encouraged by the new Interoperability Directive. This concept will remain necessary at least as long as railway undertakings will need to operate non TSI compliant rolling stock across borders, on compliant or non TSI compliant lines.
“The concept can also be used for TSI compliant rolling stock, insofar as Infrastructure, Control Command and Signalling and Energy TSI are unlikely to ever cover all the specificities of old lines.
From this point of view, Cross-Accep-tance can deliver the results of harmonisation more quickly than waiting for TSI compliance, even though it will take some time to develop sufficient trust between the NSAs”, explain CER and UNIFE in a brochure published in 2010.
The key issues that can stand in the way of cross-acceptance have been defined by EIM (European Rail Infrastructure
Managers) as being the ordinary approval procedures, the technical compatibility of a railway vehicle and infrastructure, the “unwritten laws” (related to railway network knowledge, which is not always provided for new entrants on the market) and the economic impact.
Work on cross acceptance to date has concentrated on achieving commonality of rules between member states. EIM believes that of equal or potentially more value is commonality of the approval process across the EU. In almost all EU countries the IM has an advisory role in vehicle approvals and cross acceptance.
EIM believes that the economic impact should not become part of the cross-acceptance procedure. However, it is important to make sure that it doesn’t become an obstacle in the way of cross-acceptance. It is virtually impossible to recover the costs made by infrastructure managers, costs which are related to the fact that a badly designed or rehabilitated vehicle operates on the network.
This can only endanger its competitiveness. Today, infrastructure managers are involved in the detailed technical
compatibility analysis of vehicles and infrastructure. “Often this is needed to determine if acceptance of the vehicle on the network is possible and frequently this is complicated by the historical and non-standard nature of much railway infrastructure in the EU. This issue existed in a national context before the European concept of Cross Acceptance was invented and will continue to exist. Unfortunately this issue will not go away with Cross Acceptance; in the future technical compatibility will still need to be ensured”, believe EIM officials. EIM whould like to see that detailed technical compatibility is ensured in the future to guarantee safety and proper performance of the rail network, under the surveillance of the National Safety Authority.
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