The European Commission has dopted a Decision amending Commission Decision 2012/88/EU . These new technical requirements (Technical Specifications for Interoperability – TSI) will take effect upon notification to Member States and will be applicable as of July 2015 across the whole European railway network.
This Decision contains an improved set of detailed system specifications, recommended by the European Railway Agency, the “ERTMS system authority”, which are the results of work that stakeholders committed themselves to do with the European Railway Agency in the Memorandum of Understanding signed between them and the Commission in Copenhagen in 2012 to complete what has been adopted in Decision 2012/696/EU.
This Decision also clarifies technical requirements and extends them to the whole railway system in the EU, as this has been the case for the other TSIs (cf. rail news of 18/11/2014).
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The background
Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSI) are adopted in accordance with the Interoperability rules (Directive 2008/57/EC ), and they define the technical and operational standards which must be met in order to ensure that trains can run throughout Europe without technical problems and meet the essential requirements (safety, reliability and availability, health, environmental protection, technical compatibility and accessibility). TSIs cover all aspects of the rail systems, such as infrastructure, energy, rolling stock, signaling, train control, traffic operation and telematics applications for passengers and freight services.
Picture source: European Railway Agency
