What is rolling stock testing?
Railway vehicle manufacturers, suppliers and rolling stock operating companies are required to meet mandatory, voluntary and contractual requirements for the construction, commissioning and operation of rolling stock and components. Rail testing companies provide independent, third-party assessment of rolling stock and components to ensure they are compliant with relevant standards. Testing will put the product through a series of different tests to receive authorisation for commissioning.
WHY IS ROLLING STOCK TESTING AND CERTIFICATION IMPORTANT?
Testing of railways and components as well as rolling stock certification provides multiple benefits:
- Comply with contractual requirements, as well as any national and international rolling stock regulations to put your product into service
- Discover potential safety and approval-relevant weaknesses early in the development phase, to address them and avoid costly rework and delays
- Ensure safety for passengers and drivers by demonstrating your quality with a globally recognised certification mark
TÜV SÜD is your experienced service provider for the Rail industry
TÜV SÜD has more than 50 years of experience as a rail testing company and partner to the rail industry. Our technical experts have extensive specialist know-how in assessment, testing and inspection for all types of systems and subsystems in the rail transport and rolling stock – from conventional to high-speed as well as metro and light rail.
We are recognised worldwide as a railway safety assessor, have a deep understanding of the rail regulatory requirements and operate our own rail testing facilities covering an area of approximately 35,000 square metres. In addition, we possess proprietary testing tools for rolling stock and railway components to offer the best possible service. Besides thorough evaluations and reports, we also provide TÜV SÜD certification marks after successful assessments, which are globally recognised and synonymous with quality and safety.
TÜV SÜD’S ROLLING STOCK CERTIFICATION AND TESTING SERVICES
Technical inspection
- Assessment of tender documents and technical specifications
- Technical documentation
- Optimisation of maintenance procedures
- Risk management procedures according to the relevant requirements (e.g. 402/2013/EC),
- Safety management systems for railroad companies according to 1158/2010/EU
- Safety of Rolling Stock Directive (SIRF) and EN 5012X respectively
- Testing and modelling of vehicle dynamics; special expertise for wheel-rail contact
- Technical driving tests including safety tests agains derailment
- Brake tests incl. wheel slide protection and functional tests
- Crash tests on front structure or components
- Strength tests
- Rail impact tests for tank containers and flexitank systems
- Static and dynamic tests of traction and impact devices as well as coupling systems
- Machine dynamics measurements
- Acoustic measurements
- Aerodynamics measurements
- EMC, voltage and current tests
- Fire prevention and protection
- Testing of pantograph-catenary interaction (contact force and arc measurement), including measurement of contact wire lift
Independent safety assessment (ISA) and certification
EC verification / conformity assessment
- EC certification in line with Directive 2008/57/EC to place rolling stock into service on the Trans-European Networks (TEN)
- EU assessments for rolling stock vehicle subsystems in line with the Technical Specification for Interoperability (TSI) (PRM, SRT, NOI, HS RST and CR LOC&PAS) and for vehicle control, command and signalling systems as Notified Body (NoBo) for interoperability
