Kema Rail Transport Certification - European Certification and Independent Safety Assessment

Safety and reliability are the key topics in modern railways, characteristics that find their basis in design but also in the quality of production. The development of a European rail network requires interoperability. Certification enhances the confidence in the contributions of the many international railway network parties. Certification by a Notified Body is required by European interoperability legislation. KEMA Rail Transport Certification is the All Railway Notified Body.

The development of interoperability is rapid. The railway industry is confronted with new European railway technical rules: the TSI (Technical Specifications for Interoperability). Products and systems will have to comply with these specifications and compliance must be shown by conformity assessment. But there are also national requirements in the transitional phase, which adds to the complexity.

In practice what are the consequences? We now have product certification and subsystem verification. For trains this means admission based on European rules. For the fixed installations of Infrastructure, Energy and Control & Command this means systems acceptance. Safety, reliability and technical compatibility are the characteristics that must be assessed. The assessment methods are prescribed. They include the development, design, production, assembly and testing stages.

The expertise of KEMA Rail Transport Certification includes the following.

EUROPEAN RAIL NETWORK CERTIFICATION

• European Certification conforms with Directives 96/48EC (High Speed Rail) and 01/16/EC (Conventional Rail)
• For all subsystems: energy, infrastructure, rolling stock, control & command and signalling
• Traction energy systems
• ERTMS / ETCS

KEMA RTC certifies instruments, processes, products, quality systems and personnel.

RAILWAY SAFETY COMPLIANCE

• Safety cases
• Independent safety assessment
• Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC)
• Health and safety
• Quantified risk assessment
• Identification of hazards
• HAZOP studies

CERTIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT OF RAIL VEHICLES

• Design assessment
• Rail vehicle certification
• Rail vehicle acceptance
• Standards and documentation

RAILWAY SYSTEMS EVALUATION

• Control systems (ERTMS)
• Design processes
• Production processes
• Projects
• Purchasing processes
• Quality systems

INDEPENDENT VALIDATION AND VERIFICATION SERVICES

Accredited as a Notified Body (NoBo) and Independent Safety Assessor (ISA), KEMA RTC also provides safety audits, technical audits, independent technical assessment and testing of electronic systems and software assurance.