UK: Rail safety and standards organisation RSSB has published an updated version of its Key Train Requirements document, which is designed to inform rolling stock and subsystem suppliers about research and best practice which has not yet been incorporated into mandatory industry standards.
KTR covers technical, performance, environmental, operational and passenger-facing aspects of train design. The latest version has more than 80 new or updated entries, including an expanded section on toilets and a new section on cybersecurity.
It has been produced by the Association of Train Operating Companies on behalf of the Vehicle/Vehicle System Interface Committee of technical experts which is managed by RSSB.
‘This updated version of the Key Train Requirements captures good practice when specifying key features for new and refurbished trains’, said Mark Phillips, Interim Managing Director at RSSB. ‘It will help industry better meet passengers' needs and improve efficiency by ensuring that lessons learned in the past are retained and errors not repeated. I would urge all those involved in the train procurement and manufacturing of new and refurbished trains to use this document to add detail to the standards that already exist.’
Angel Trains’ Technical Director Mark Hicks said rolling stock companies were fully supportive of the KTR document, which ‘captures past experience, highlights areas of active development and recommends best practice to be followed’, subjects where mandatory standards ‘are often silent’.
