Impact of EU Rail Agency Regulations on the Maintenance and Inspection Process of Traction Vehicles
The year 2025 is the time when ECM entities are obliged to implement changes resulting from the regulations of the European Union Agency for Railways regarding the authorization and restoration of vehicles to service.
The deadline for their implementation has been set for the end of June this year. Due to the scale of the changes and the need to properly prepare the staff, the work should start now.
The scope of the required changes is detailed in the dossier “Article 14 of Directive (EU) 2016/798 and of the Commission Implementing Regulation on the application of Regulation (EU) 2019/779 on a certification scheme for entities in charge of vehicle maintenance”. This document, submitted to certified entities, describes in detail the principles and elements of changes introduced in key areas. It concerns, m.in other things, the correct approval of vehicles for use by workshops, their restoration to service by ECM and the determination of areas subject to verification in these processes. It also indicates the necessary information that should be included in the DDU and PDE documents and specifies the tasks and responsibilities of the ECM at the various stages of rolling stock maintenance.
RailSoft and Compliance with New Legal Regulations
RailSoft is an excellent IT tool for managing ECM processes. It is also used by rail passenger carriers, freight carriers, siding and railway infrastructure managers. For several years, the system has taken into account formal and legal requirements for the management of railway vehicle maintenance. It allows for transparent and effective monitoring of all operations in accordance with DSU, MMS, automatically collects data from railway carriers’ operations, allows for keeping documentation of repair workshops (measurement cards).
Key Functionalities of RailSoft in the Area of Vehicle Maintenance:
Vehicle file – allows you to assign detailed technical data of the vehicle, such as vehicle type, equipment, maintenance group, number of axles, braking weight, type of brake pads and history of mileage and odometer replacement.
Vehicle documentation management – many documents are generated automatically after the end of an operation, and their validity is monitored.
Equipment management – the possibility of detailed expansion of the equipment file, including marking elements belonging to the Safety Critical Component and assigning measurement points subject to verification during vehicle inspection and testing.
Monitoring of the history of changes – the system automatically records the history of operations, including the vehicle’s stay on a specific EVN, mileage and wear of elements based on measurement points.
Vehicle maintenance and inspection module – key to ensuring the safety of the fleet, monitors the condition of the vehicle and automatically determines the P1 to P5 inspection plan based on time, mileage and average wear and tear of the vehicle.
Generation and archiving of DDU and PDE documentation – no possibility to complete the exclusion notification without issuing a DDU and no possibility to restore the vehicle to operation by an entity other than the ECM. The documents are automatically generated, archived and contain all the required information, m.in. shutdown details, planned and unplanned activities, workshop name, maintenance dates and details of people responsible for repairs.
Planned Extensions of the RailSoft System
In the coming months, RailSoft will be enriched with new functionalities adapted to the new requirements:
Replaced Parts List – The system will suggest which parts should be replaced based on the steps specified in the DSU.
Allowed with or without restrictions – the ability to add detailed comments.
Safety deficiencies list – text field for recording deficiencies and non-conformities.
Records of final tests – automatic generation of a list of completed measurement cards or manual entry of information.
Thanks to constant cooperation with dozens of customers of our railway software in Poland and abroad – RailSoft is a software that is dynamically developing and constantly introduces changes in legal regulations and the needs of new users. New modules are also being developed. All functional and legal changes are available to our customers who use Maintenance RailSoft (rights to download new versions of the software).
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