Authorisation of vehicles, still a difficult process

Authorisations of railway vehicles in Member States are based on Technical Specifications for Interoperability and National Technical Rules. Both complete each other, for example for European transport networks the National Technical Rules apply in specific cases and open points, for transport networks outside European networks more and more Member States substitute National Technical Rules by requirements defined by Technical Specifications for Interoperability. If correctly applied, this procedure simplifies in turn the mutual recognition of rolling stock.

At the European Union level there is a limited mutual recognition of vehicles authorisation for place in service but this is counterbalanced by a very high motivation from the sector to have a harmonised implementation of the future legislation in Europe in order to facilitate the mutual recognition of the authorisation for place in service of vehicles.
Therefore, we can say that most difficulties in the mutual recognition process are not caused by a rolling stock problem, but by legislation, more precisely by the fact that the European legislation is not completely transposed into the national legislation. The European rail sector, represented by the European Railway Authority (ERA) expresses its concern that the entry into force of new national legislation may also create difficulties in the definition of the induced new requirements and consequently their availability.
Problems in the mutual recognition of rolling stock can arise if Member States choose to demand an additional authorization of a vehicle already authorised in another member state. In this situation, an additional authorisation can be requested for vehicles but only in what concerns the technical compatibility with the respective network. And, the technical compatibility vehicle – network is ensured by the conformity of the Technical Specifications for Interoperability with national norms. Once correlated, the additional authorisation is already a process which weighs the well-development of traffic, additional costs, bureaucracy.
It is difficult to identify precisely the costs and delay generated by the authorisation process. Effectively, most of the actors from the industry (manufacturers, applicants) are very cautious on that. The data presented by ERA in its latest interim report on the authorisation processes of rail vehicles  are given as an indication only. Therefore, we notice up  to an average of 2 years delay between the completion of the vehicle and the issue of the formal authorisation for place into service (for locomotives and coaches), additional costs ranging from EUR 100 to 1,500 for verifications and authorisation of modifications, and additional costs ranging from EUR 100 to 4,000 for additional authorisation in other member states.
However, the latest signs coming from the rail market are aimed at increasing the manufacturers, transport companies and rolling stock leasing companies’ confidence in carrying on the simplification of the cross-acceptance procedure. According to the estimations of the European Rail Agency (ERA), there had been an increase in the number of vehicles authorised for place into service over the period 2004 – Q2 2009. With the help of sector organisations (Community of European Railways (CER) and Union of European Railway Industries (UNIFE)), the ERA has been able to project forward these data to 2016. Over the period of 2010 to 2016 an overall increase of 1.2% per year is expected.

by Elena Ilie


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