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THE MAGAZINE FOR EUROPEAN RAIL DECISION MAKERS

To meet demand for higher performance and reliability
fleets depend on design, materials & engineering

Technology & innovation are vital if rail
is to capture & retain passengers

Discover the planning, equipment & construction
behind all major projects in Europe & further afield

Corridors, logistics, markets supply & demand.
The driving forces behind goods transit by rail

Latest developments in standards & regulations.
Technology, product tests & deployment

Safety

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FLAMES AND TRAINS – CONVERGING EUROPEAN STANDARDS

ARTICLE - ISSUE 22 - by Jean-Claude Tourrade, consultant, CEN & Serge Métral, head coordinator for standardisation & regulations, SNCF

FLAMES AND TRAINS - CONVERGING EUROPEAN From the start of European rail standardisation at the beginning of the 1990s, priority was given to protecting rolling stock from fire and the topic handed over to the first work group set up by CEN/TC 256 ‘rail applications’.

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ASSOCIATED CONTENT

REGULATIONS & VALIDATION FOR ROLLING STOCK
Fire protection is an essential aspect of the safety of rail vehicles. A fire protection concept, which includes a fire risk analysis…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 26 - by M.Sc. Michael Klinger
SBB’S CLIMATE CHAMBER OPEN ALL WEATHER
Swiss Rail (SBB) has been operating a climate chamber at its Olten workshop (canton of Solothurn, central Switzerland) since 1978. The facility…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 19 - by Ralf Hofer, SBB Operating
.ITALO SUCCESS HINGES ON HOMOLOGATION
Tests are underway on the .Italo very high speed train in Italy. “We foresee ending the Pegase [prototype] tests in the autumn…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 22 - by EURAILmag
EURO DUPLEX – SNCF UNVEILS ‘SECRET WEAPON’
The TGV has come, and gone, a long way since it made its debut on the French rail network in the 1980s…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 24 - by EURAILmag
RAIL SAFETY – EPSF SIGNS AND DELIVERS
French rail safety authority EPSF – Etablissement Public de Sécurité Ferroviaire – has spent a busy 2008 making moves to step up and extend…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 18 - by EURAILmag
TREADING THE ULTRASONIC PATH
The railway systems business unit at Fraunhofer Institute for non-destructive testing (IZFP), Saarbrücken, develops and supplies equipment and systems for non…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 27 - by EURAILmag
TRIOTRAIN – TOTAL REGULATORY ACCEPTANCE FOR THE INTEROPERABLE NETWORK
The certification of a rail vehicle pursuant to European regulations represents a significant element of both vehicle cost and time-to-market…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 20 - by Martin Couturier (UNIFE), project coordinator, TrioTRAIN
FLAMES AND TRAINS – CONVERGING EUROPEAN STANDARDS
From the start of European rail standardisation at the beginning of the 1990s, priority was given to protecting rolling stock from fire…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 22 - by Jean-Claude Tourrade, consultant, CEN & Serge Métral, head coordinator for standardisation & regulations, SNCF
BAGGAGE, VENTILATION & THE SPREAD OF FIRE IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES*
The progress and spread of a fire are important parameters for the safety of metro and suburban commuter trains. In a series…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 26 - by Anders Lönnermark, Johan Lindström, Ying Zhen Li, SP Fire Technology
FIRE BEHAVIOUR OF RAILWAY ROLLING STOCK – EUROPE HEADS FOR HARMONISED STANDARD
Today, each country has its own fire standards for the European rolling stock market. All these national specifications and certification programmes define…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 16 - by Sébastien Segura, Patricia Gil & Patrick Lallet, Agence d’Essai Ferroviaire, SNCF
SAFETY & POLICY IN RAIL, INTERVIEW WITH MAX FRIEDLI, DIRECTOR, SWISS FEDERAL OFFICE OF TRANSPORT
Switzerland has one of the most compact and heavily utilised railway networks in Europe. The Federal Office of Transport [FOT] is responsible…

INTERVIEW - ISSUE 21 - by EURAILmag
ELECTRICAL CABLES – REGULATIONS & TESTS
Cables are recognised as a critical component when taking fire safety into consideration. Assessing their fire behaviour has been (and still is…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 26 - by Luca Ermini, Laboratorio Prevenzione Incendi (LAPI)
THE SECTOR-WIDE APPROACH TO RAILWAY SAFETY CERTIFICATION
Since the coming into force of railway safety directive 2004/49, the rail sector has reviewed its approach to safety certification. Through this…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 21 - by Corinna Salander, head of safety certification safety unit, European Railway Agency
TU DARMSTADT – RESEARCH, TRAINING & MORE BESIDES
In the field of railway operations, Technische Universität Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt) and its dedicated research centre Eisenbahnbetriebsfeld Darmstadt (EBD) offer a range…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 26 - by Dipl.-Ing. Constanze Streitzig & Dipl.-Inform. Anselmo Stelzer Article expanded and translated by: Dipl.-Ing. Sebastian Schön & Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Ing. Friederike Chu, TU Darmstadt
SECUR-ED – INTO THE BREACH
While safety addresses problems caused accidentally, security concerns those caused intentionally. As more people journey, both at home and across borders, and…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 27 - by EURAILmag
BREAKING GLASS
As trains continue to speed up, the front and lateral windows of rolling stock are subjected to increasing pressure. Moreover, new designs…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 23 - by EURAILmag
AERODYNAMICS & HIGH SPEED AT PLAY
Winds up to 300km/hour, temperatures from -25 to over 55°, snow, ice, heavy rain, turbulence, sand and pollutants, the Centre Scientific…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 22 - by EURAILmag
EUROPE NEEDS MORE RAILWAY TEST CENTRES
i-Trans is spearheading a project to build Europe’s largest rail test centre in Nord-Pas de Calais. Part of the…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 18 - by EURAILmag
RCAS - RAIL COLLISION AVOIDANCE SYSTEM
Researchers at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) are continuing to enhance their Railway Collision Avoidance System* (RCAS), devised to prevent rail accidents…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 23 - by EURAILmag
ACCEPTANCE OF MATERIALS NON-COMPLIANT WITH SAFETY REQUIREMENTS
The origins of the railways date back to 1829, when Robert Stephenson’s rocket locomotive ran 112km from Liverpool to Manchester, thus…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 20 - by Jolanta Maria Radziszewska-Wolinska, Centrum Naukowo Techniczne Kolejnictwa, Poland
IRIS 320 SETTING SIGHTS ACROSS CHANNEL
Since designing and building its first dedicated track inspection vehicle, SNCF Infra has continued to extend its IRIS 320 platform to stay…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 24 - by EURAILmag
EUROPEAN RAILWAY ELECTROMAGNETICCOMPATIBILITY
As the rail industry knows to its cost, the current authorisation process for the placing into service of rail vehicles, according to…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 27 - by EURAILmag
GIANT STEPS TOWARDS FIRE SAFETY IN EUROPEAN TRANSPORT
While standardisation is one of the essential supports of EU legislation, and a lot of national legal frameworks have already been transformed…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 21 - by Dave Tooley, Bombardier Transportation
VIDEO SURVEILLANCE – CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES
CCTV has been keeping its eyes trained on the railways for many years now. But given the changing dynamics of the railscape…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 27 - by EURAILmag
BUILDING SECOND LINE OF DEFENCE FOR SAFER RAIL
Immunologists know it very well, historians can give multiple successful examples and it wasn’t implemented properly in the financial markets – the…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 19 - by Prof. Dr. Thomas Strang, Dr. Andreas Lehner & Cristina Rico-Garcia, German Aerospace Center (DLR)