Registers and databases

Registers

The single market in railway equipment and components, and the uninterrupted running of trains across international boundaries, will be dependent upon ready availability of relevant and reliable data to those who need it.

The Railways (Interoperability) Regulations 2006 transpose the Directive requirements for a central National Vehicle Register (NVR), and for registers of Rolling Stock and of Infrastructure to be held by the asset owners, consolidated by the Competent Authorities (DfT for Great Britain, and DRDNI for Northern Ireland) and published annually by the Secretary of State.

Now that EC Decision 2007/756 (PDF, 189KB), adopting a common specification of the national vehicle register provided for under Articles 14(4) and (5) of Directives 96/48/EC and 2001/16/EC has been notified to Member States, DfT and DRDNI are making arrangements to designate Registration Bodies in an accordance with Regulation 33(12), and establish the registration system that will in due course enable the European Railway Agency to set up a pan-European Virtual Vehicle Register (VVR) capable of interrogating the NVRs of all the Member States.

A link to the Registration Entity will be added to this page as soon as the NVR arrangements are in place.

Vehicle Keeper Markings

The owner of a vehicle that has been authorised under the Railways (Interoperability) Regulations 2006 should include, in his Rolling Stock Register, the identity of the keeper of the vehicle, including the Vehicle Keeper Marking (VKM) (PDF, 32KB).  A VKM is an alphanumeric code, consisting of 2 to 5 letters, and is inscribed on each rail vehicle, near the vehicle number.  The register of VKMs is controlled centrally by the European Railway Agency so that each Keeper in the EU is uniquely identified.

Any keeper who needs to be reminded of their VKM, or who needs a new VKM, should refer to the European Railway Agency website to view existing VKMs on the public database or to gain access to the application form to apply for a new VKM. Completed forms should be sent to Office of Rail Regulation which provides GB administration to the ERA.

Databases

The European Railway Agency is progressing with the development of Interoperability Databases, as required by its Mandate (Regulation 881/2004/EC) and envisaged in Directives 2001/16/EC and 96/48/EC. These will be public databases, and will contain:

• EC declarations of verification of subsystems
• EC declarations of conformity of constituents
• Authorisations for putting into service including the corresponding registration numbers