From Russia’ GTT to the European Vehicle Register

Traditionally, rail freight services in the Baltics relied on the Russian GTT system, which included sharing data on rolling stock and cargo to the Kremlin. However, a new platform to register broad-gauge platform wagons to the European Vehicle Register now makes this procedure unnecessary. A test for this new type of service was launched at the beginning of 2024.

“It is the first time in the history of the restored Independence of Lithuania, when a train moves in the Baltic States based on the data of European Vehicle Register, based on the European certificate of Entities in Charge of Maintenance and – the most important! – without providing any redundant data to the Russian systems”, said the CRO of Lithuanian Railways Gediminas Seckus.

A European Vehicle Register has been live since the end of November 2021, ERA explained. Eight EU countries are currently available in EVR: Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Finland, Slovenia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, France, Belgium Italy, Greece, and Sweden. Since the beginning of 2022, ERA has been organising training sessions and workshops to instruct registration entities on how to migrate to EVR. The specifications for vehicle registers in the Union have been implemented in October 2018 with the Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1614.

The industry’s plan

AERRL, ALLRAIL, CER, EAL, EIM, ERFA, UIP, UIRR, and UNIFE are endorsing ERA’s candidacy. In a joint letter, the parties claimed they “support the intention of the ERA in case it will be adequate and competitive to and in addition to the registration entities of the member states”. This means that the EVR would co-exist with NVRs and that companies would be able to choose between the two. The associations pointed out that this choice would benefit small and medium-sized enterprises, which might struggle with potential language and capacity barriers.

Keeping registrations to the EVR on a voluntary basis could create some additional confusion. Implementing an EVR while maintaining NVRs would mean having one more platform where companies can register their rolling stock rather than achieving uniformity. Hesitating to make regulations mandatory seems to be a characteristic of European Institutions, as the CountEmissionEU Directive, the eFTI4EU project, and capacity management policies show.

Codes and access rights

The registration of rail rolling stock entails the assignation of a country code. If applicants decide to register their vehicle through National Registration Entities (NREs), it will be the specific NRE who will assign the country code. “In case that ERA is chosen as a registration entity, the relevant NRE shall assign the requested country code upon request of ERA”, the joint letter specified. The EVR Tool will then assign a European Vehicle Number (EVN) according to the numbering scheme.

Another aspect analysed by the signatories concerns access rights. “The data from the EVR database are in general not publicly accessible”, they said. They all agree that wagon keepers should maintain the liberty of deciding whether or not to make their EVR data public. In case third parties want to access data, they should provide their reasons and request access via the EVR Tool at a National Safety Authority or through ERA. “Only data that is directly related to the EVN marked on the vehicle shall be available to the public”, the letter mentioned.

From various national registries to a worldwide one?

The introduction of an EVR may be seen as a stepping stone to the implementation of the Unique Rail Vehicle Identification System (URVIS). This initiative, which is part of the Luxembourg Rail Protocol, aims to create a worldwide registry for rail rolling stock identification by assigning a unique 16-digit number to every railway rolling stock registered item. However, Europe’s reluctance to make things mandatory is highlighted once again when it comes to URVIS.

ERA and the European Commission are proposing to make it Mandatory when Available. On the other hand, the signatories claim that “the requirement to provide the URVIS number shall be deleted or receive a status Optional only”. This statement, according to them, is justified by the fact that this requirement is not covered in the Interoperability Directive nor in the Safety Directive, thus there are no legal grounds to make it mandatory. When it comes to URVIS and the Luxembourg Rail Protocol, it was recently announced that the system will enter into force in contracting states (Luxembourg, Sweden, Spain, and Gabon) on 8 March 2024.

Also read:

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• ‘If the rail sector still supports its own TTR project, it should let the legislators know’
• ‘Weights and Dimensions Directive ensures intermodal compatibility’