Assessment Services for Alternative Railway Traction Technologies and Systems

WHAT ARE INNOVATIVE RAILWAY TRACTION TECHNOLOGIES?

Safe, functional and economical fuel cell and traction battery systems play a decisive role in the successful change-over to a sustainable energy supply into the transportation industry, including the railway sector. As railway technologies progress, new safety and security challenges arise.

Many countries have committed to reduce their carbon emissions by implementing alternative railway power supply systems. The use of fuel cells is an example of an emission free power supply system. In a fuel cell, hydrogen and oxygen combine to generate electricity. Hydrogen produces “clean” electricity, which makes it a suitable electric train power supply. Apart from this, it has enormous potential for decarbonization efforts. TÜV SÜD helps companies ensure their hydrogen technology within rails performs correctly, can be cost-effectively implemented and rolled-out and is safe.

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES WITH REGARDS TO ASSESSMENT SERVICES FOR ALTERNATIVE RAILWAY TRACTION TECHNOLOGIES?

The successful shift to a sustainable energy supply depends on safe, functional and economical fuel cells (particularly hydrogen fuel cells) and other traction battery systems. This is especially relevant to vehicle manufacturers and operating companies: balancing the safety of people with the company’s asset value and environmental protection, is a continuous process.

The current legal and normative requirements for alternative railway power supply systems do not yet provide an adequate basis for generic safety validation. Rather, it requires currently engineering evaluations on extensive risk analysis. This results in rail-specific evidence for an acceptable level of residual risk.

HOW CAN OUR SAFETY ASSESSMENT BENEFIT YOUR BUSINESS?

Our experts have decades of experience in the field of safety assessments and complete railway systems and provide interdisciplinary knowledge of assessment methods. By working with us, you gain the following advantages:

• Avoid costly and time-intensive reworking of your technologies.
• Recognise safety-relevant weaknesses in order to avoid disproportionate technical rework and bring your railway power system technologies to market in time.
• Gain a competitive advantage by working with a competent team of experts who has vast experience in many national and international safety and standardisation projects

WHY CHOOSE TÜV SÜD AS YOUR PARTNER FOR ASSESSMENT SERVICES FOR ALTERNATIVE RAILWAY TRACTION TECHNOLOGIES?

TÜV SÜD offers technical and process-based service by integrating every aspect of vehicle technology, infrastructure and railway operation in our assessment. We do this in a development accompanying assessment from an early project phase up to the final authorization of the vehicle.

Our expert team aims to reduce your company’s project risk while preserving a high level of efficiency. We are backed by years of experience in safety assessments as well as railway traction systems. In addition, we are able to provide extensive interdisciplinary knowledge of assessment methods, especially in relation to FMEA or HAZOP risk, consequences and sensitivity analysis.

We are a one-stop shop for all your assessment needs: we act as Independent Safety Assessor (ISA) with specific experience in the application of alternative railway traction technologies, Notified Body (NoBo), Designated Body (DeBo), and Assessment Body (AsBo).

TÜV SÜD’S ASSESSMENT SERVICES FOR RAILWAY TRACTION TECHNOLOGIES WITH HYDROGEN STORAGE, FUEL CELLS, HYDROGEN COMBUSTION ENGINES AND TRACTION BATTERIES

Assessment services for alternative rail traction technologies

We assess, test and certify complete system concepts, designs and implementations during their development.

• We check the safety-related design concepts as well as hazard and risk analyses (e.g. FMEA, FTA, HAZOP, RAMS) to be able to identify weakness areas and potential for optimisation.
• We assess the suitability of defined design measures, applied codes of practice and verification and validation tests.
• We inspect and certify pressure gas components, tank systems and vehicles according to international standards (high-pressure storage, liquid tanks, fuel cells etc.).
• We perform various tests in our accredited laboratories. These include:

○ Material compatibility examinations (metallic and non-metallic materials)

○ Pressure, leakage, and permeation testing

○ Service life testing and durability examinations

○ Hydraulic and pneumatic cycle testing

○ Overpressure & burst testing

○ Gas flow testing

○ Railway suitability and environmental testing

• We inspect and assess railway suitability according to European and international standards for all components of innovative railways traction systems.
• We assess safety functions (sensor – logic – actuator) against performance levels (PL) or safety integrity levels (SIL) determined during risk assessments.
• We review test specifications and witness type tests, such as hydrogen tightness and hydrogen filling.
• We examine technical documentation (e.g., maintenance and servicing plans, operating manuals) and approval-relevant documentation (e.g., hazard analysis, explosion protection documents, and CE declarations of conformity).

Development-accompanying and independent safety assessment according to EN 50126

We also offer our assistance in the following areas:

• We assess safety documentation throughout the development process.
• We provide expert opinions on application of non-railway standards, derogations and evidence of equal safety.
• We issue a declaration of no objection before commissioning, H2-filling and testing.
• We provide first-hand information of new and revised standards and regulations for the duration of the project.
• We assess interfaces between vehicle, plant and railways infrastructure and hydrogen filling stations with regard to the completeness of identified hazards, suitability of defined mitigations and safety-related application conditions.
• We assess safety-related application conditions between vehicle and component manufacturers, vehicle operators and infrastructure managers to ensure safe product implementation and operation.

Training courses

Our training programmes are designed to meet our customers’ needs. The following outline what you will learn:

• Safe handling of hydrogen applications
• Implications on the train approval process
• Introduction to regulation codes and standards for the implementation of hydrogen applications
• Qualification of employees according to the Industrial Safety Regulation