Requirements on wagons

Technical rules

New, upgraded and renewed wagons shall normally be authorised according "The new approach". This mean that the wagons shall fulfil the requirements according relevant TSIs (European Technical Specifications for Interoperability) and national requirements regarding open points and specific cases in the TSIs. The Swedish Transport Agency (the national safety authority of Sweden) also applies "The new approach" in the authorisation process. This means that a notified body assesses the wagons fulfilment of the TSI requirements.

Valid TSIs

New locomotives and passenger units shall normally fulfil the following TSIs for the authorisation:

• TSI Wagon, Commission regulation (EU) no. 2013/321, amended through regulations (EU) no. 1236/2013, and regulation (EU) no. 924/2015
• TSI Noise, Commission regulation (EU) no. 1304/2014

A standard wagon fulfils the all requirements according point 7.1.2. and appendix C of TSI Wagon and the relevant requirement of TSI Noise. Normally wagons of this category get an authorisation with mutual recognition. This means that an authorisation issued by one NSA in EU+ (EU+NO+CH) is enough for operation in all EU+-countries. Also standard wagons from the other OTIF-countries are authorised with mutual recognition for operation in all OTIF-countries (EU+NO+CH + South east Europe + Middle East + North Africa). The standard wagons are marked with "GE" (Go Everywhere). Old standard wagons had mutual recognition according to the COTIF-agreement with authorisation before July 2008. These wagons are marked "RIV" and they are still authorised for operation with mutual recognition. The standard wagons have ID-numbers beginning with "0", "1", "2" or "3".

Wagons can be marked "CW" (Compatible With) in case at least one of three specific requirement of appendix C is not fulfilled (all other requirements i Annex C are fulfilled). These wagons have ID-numbers beginning with "4" or "8", but are mutually recognised if the requirements in 7.1.2 are fulfilled.

Special-purpose wagon which do not fulfil the requirements of point 7.1.2 of TSI Wagon needs a specific authorisation for operation in Sweden. The authorisation issued by the Swedish Transport Agency is only valid in Sweden. The special-purpose wagons have ID-number beginning with "4" or "8".

The Swedish Transport Agency and the European Rail Agency (ERA) have issued a number of technical documents and guide lines to facilitate the application of the TSIs and authorisation of rail vehicles. Below you find the guidelines regarding wagons.

- ERA: Guide to TSI WAG

- ERA: Guide to TSI NOI

- ERA: List of full approved K composite brake blocks for international transport

To fulfil the requirements of TSI Noise the wagon must have brake blocks of composite type. ERA has authorised a number of types of composite brake blocks, which are listed on the ERA web. These blocks are safe in Nordic winter conditions. After the 1st of July 2015 the brake block get the status as "interoperability Constituent". This mean a Nobo shall assess the brake blocks and issue a certificate valid for some categories of wagons. Then it is only the standard wagons that are required to have brake blocks approved for operation in the Nordic winter conditions. Some special purpose wagons may have brake blocks with reduced brake capacity in Nordic winter conditions. In the technical file it is stated if the brake blocks are tested and authorised for Nordic winter conditions or not.

- Draft Commission Regulation amending Regulation (EU) No 321/2013 concerning the technical specification for interoperability relating to the 'rolling stock - freight wagons' subsystem of the rail system in the European Union (ST33EN01 act and annex). link

When application for authorisation of a wagon (or series of wagons) the applicant shall engage one or more notified bodies. These notified bodies shall assess the wagon(-s) and issue a certificate of compliance to the TSIs. The applicant should also send an application to Transportstyrelsen at the start of the process to get information on the applicable national requirements for the authorisation. In case of an upgrading or renewal Transportstyrelsen shall decide which functions have to be assessed for the new authorisation.

National requirements, open points and specific cases

Special purpose wagon shall fulfil the TSI-requirements and specific national requirements regarding open points and specific cases in the TSI Wagon. There are also some categories of wagon which are out of scope of TSI Wagon e.g. iron ore wagons with axle loads >25 ton and wagons with maximum speed >160 km/h. These type of wagons has to fulfil national technical rules. Transportstyrelsens regulation TSFS 2010:116 gives the functional requirements for authorisation of a national wagon.

There are only high level requirements set in the Swedish regulations on rail vehicles. The Swedish Transport Agency has issued guidelines with accepted technical solutions for different functions of a vehicle to facilitate for the applicant. In the TSI Wagon most of these functions are specified, except for specific cases and open points. The main scope for the guidelines below are to specify accepted technical solutions for special purpose and national wagons.

• The Swedish Transport Agency guide: Assessment of railway vehicles interaction with Swedish railway infrastructure and other functions.When applying for approval of the independent reviewer you may use the form TSJ7023 Self declaration for independent assessor.
• The Swedish Transport Agency guide: Guideline for issuing report for assessment of railway vehicles interaction with Swedish railway infrastructure, link in Swedish.
• TDOK 2015.0143: Vehicle gauges. Requirement for reference contours of vehicles (BVS 1586.22) link in Swedish.
• TDOK 2014.0690: Detectors Requirements for hot axle box and hot wheel thread detection (BVS 1592.0201), link in Swedish. There are some specific cases for Sweden in the TSI link.
• TDOK 2014.0776: Requirement for train detection by track circuits (BVS 544.14002), link in Swedish.
• The Swedish Transport Administration: Study on risk of collision in point switches due to distance between buffer end and first axle of train in combination with short distance between insulated joint and fouling point, link in Swedish.
• Regulation of running dynamics for vehicles with axle load up to 35 tons link in Swedish.
• See extract from ERA database RDD for national reference document for National reference document for SE.

To operate a rail special purpose wagons on the Öresund link the wagons has to be authorised both in Sweden and Denmark.

The applicant has to demonstrate that the special purpose wagon (or national wagon) fulfils the essential requirements safety, interoperability, environment, health and reliability according to the directive. This can be demonstrated through the guidelines above and through a Nobo-certificate regarding TSI Wagon and TSI Noise, in this case Transportstyrelsen may authorise the wagon for operation in Sweden. The technical file of the special purpose wagon shall give data and restrictions for the wagon to the operator on e.g. brake performance and accepted load. The Railway undertaking is responsible to apply the operational restrictions.

In the TSI Wagon there is a specific case for Sweden saying that the wagons shall be designed for operation in the Nordic winter conditions to get an authorisation without operational restrictions. The applicant shall demonstrate the safety and reliability for operation in severe winter conditions. Hence Transportstyrelsen may require experience operation to issue a "permanent" authorisation without operational restrictions. Special purpose wagons which are not designed for Nordic winter will get operational restrictions for Sweden e.g. reduced brake performance in snow conditions. The railway undertaking is responsible to apply these operation restrictions.