NEWS
CENELEC published a new important standard for the railway community. EN 50388-2:2025 ‘Fixed installations and rolling stock for railway applications - Technical criteria for the coordination between electric traction power supply systems and rolling stock to achieve interoperability - Part 2: Stability and harmonics’ establishes the acceptance criteria, according to EN 50388-1:2022, for the compatibility between traction units and power supply for known phenomena and known technologies. The standard was developed by CLC/TC 9X ‘Electrical and electronic applications for railways’.
The European standardization community recently issued important calls for experts to contribute to two pivotal initiatives poised to shape the future of rail transport across the continent. They focus on the EU Rail Fare Profile and on the Railway Gauge standardization, both of which are critical to achieving interoperability, efficiency, and sustainability within the European rail network.
Railway travel has long been celebrated for its efficiency and environmental benefits. Yet passenger experience, particularly ride comfort, remains a crucial aspect for improving rail systems. The European Standard EN 12299:2024, recently developed by CEN/TC 256, provides a groundbreaking methodology for evaluating and enhancing ride comfort in rail vehicles. This updated standard replaces the 2009 version, introducing advanced methods to ensure passenger comfort is measurable, repeatable, and aligned with modern rail technologies.
Every industrial sector needs a common grammar to work. Having an agreement between all parties involved (manufacturers, subcontractors, clients) on the meaning of technical concepts ensures that all parts of the processes for the development, testing and repair of a product, system or infrastructure are coherent and mutually compatible.
Ensuring the electrical compatibility between rolling stock and electric traction systems is crucial for organizing a railway network. The train operating companies must be able to know the electrification parameters to confirm, after consultation with the rolling stock manufacturers, that risks of non-compatibility are minimized and that there will be no consequential disturbances on the electrification system.
CEN and CENELEC is proud to contribute to the development of simulation as alternative to physical tests in railways with the new CEN/TR 17833:2022 developed by CEN/TC 256 ‘ Railways applications’ in close collaboration with CENELEC Rail experts (CENELEC/TC 9X).
Following its cartoon “Standards@Rail”, CEN & CENELEC conclude the European Year of Rail with a new campaign to share with the European citizens the importance of European standards in the daily life of trains and railways infrastructure.
Brussels, 10 June 2021 – The European Committee for Standardization (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking (S2R) signed today a Memorandum of Understanding that will bring forward the standardization work on the railway sector in Europe.
Cybersecurity is crucial in today’s world, as our society increasingly relies on connected infrastructure and devices. In the field of railways, connected trains and infrastructure are seen as a major source of improvement for the management of traffic and capacity, energy efficiency, and network communication. But this trend also means more potential threats of cyber-attacks. To protect the rolling stock and fixed installations, the support of adequate tools and requirements is needed.
2021 is the European Year of Rail. On this occasion, CEN and CENELEC are proud to highlight the important role European standards play to ensure the well-functioning of a key sector for the future of Europe.