With the objective to facilitate further amendments on the existing legislation on rail interoperability, and given that some amendments have already been done in Directive 2004/50/EC, the Official Journal of the European Union published on July 18th Directive 2008/57/EC on the interoperability of the rail system within the Community.

Council Directive 96/48/EC on the interoperability of the trans-European high-speed rail system and Directive 2001/16/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the interoperability of the trans-European conventional rail system were substantially amended by Directive 2004
50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council. As new amendments are now being introduced, it would be appropriate to recast the Directives for the sake of clarity and merge their provisions together into a single instrument with a view to simplification.

Directive 2008/57/EC sets out to establish the conditions to be met to achieve interoperability within the Community rail system in a manner compatible with the provisions of Directive 2004/49/EC. These conditions concern the design, construction, placing in service, upgrading, renewal, operation and maintenance of the parts of this system as well as the professional qualifications and health and safety conditions of the staff who contribute to its operation and maintenance.

There are major differences between the national regulations and between internal rules and technical specifications which the railways apply, since they incorporate techniques that are specific to the national industries and prescribe specific dimensions and devices and special characteristics. This situation prevents trains from being able to run without hindrance throughout the Community network. In this scope, the Commission has recently adopted new and revised technical specifications for interoperability related to some certain subsystems.

The commercial operation of trains throughout the rail network requires in particular excellent compatibility between the characteristics of the infrastructure and those of the vehicles, as well as efficient interconnection of the information and communication systems of the different infrastructure managers and railway undertakings. Performance levels, safety, quality of service and cost depend upon such compatibility and interconnection, as does, in particular, the interoperability of the rail system.

It is therefore important to stablish for the whole Community a set of essential requirements applicable all the rail system, as well as the required Technical Specification for Interoperability (TSI). A TSI sets all the conditions with which an interoperability constituent must conform, and the procedure to b followed in assessing conformity. In addition, it is necessary to specify that every constituent must undergo the procedure for assessing conformity and suitability for the use indicated in the TSIs, and have the corresponding certificate.


The main purposes of the Directive in the scope of the European transport policy and the general objectives set by the White Paper "European transport policy for 2010 : time to decide", will be focused on:

• Facilitating, improve and develop international rail transport services within the European Union and with third countries.
• Contributing to the progressive creation of the internal market in equipment and services for the construction, renewal, upgrading and operation of the rail system within the Community.
• Contributing to the interoperability of the rail system within the Community.

Member states may exclude from the provisions of this Directive some specific networks with special characteristics, such as metros, trams and other light rail systems, networks that are functionally separate from the rest of the system, operating for local, urban, or suburban services, certain privately owned railway infrastructures used for own freight services, or networks for strictly local or historical purposes.

The Directive establishes the aspects related to the essential requirements of railway networks, the contents of TSI, as well as the procedure for their adoption, revision and publication. It also establishes the conditions to put in the market the interoperability constituents and subsystems, the conditions for vehicles to enter in the market and registry.

The Directive entered into force in July 19th.