Joint Network Secretariat (JNS)

The JNS (Joint Network Secretariat) procedures aim at EU-wide harmonisations of any action taken after any issue, e.g. accidents or incidents in railways in the EU.

Any railway stakeholder can submit a request for a JNS procedure to the JNS-panel using the notification form indicating which kind of procedure is intended.

The JNS rules distinguish between an urgent and a normal procedure:

The purpose of the urgent procedure is to develop EU-wide harmonised short-term risk mitigation measures to ensure mainly safety and interoperability;
The purpose of the normal procedure is to develop EU-wide harmonised mid- and long-term measures to finally solve the issue in an efficient and sustainable way.

The panel, consisting of ERA, together with NSA representatives and GRB representatives:

Decides about the admissibility of the submission;
Decides which procedure is chosen;
Suggests key issues and questions to be considered by the task force;
Nominates the members of the task force.

The task force consists of participants from NSAs, NIBs and GRBs which are nominated according to the competences required to solve the issue and answer questions. ERA is organising the procedure, arranging the meetings and acting as chair in the task force meetings, whilst the responsibilities assigned under applicable EU or national legislation, such as safe operation however, still remain with the respective railway actors involved.

The outcome of the task force discussions has to be submitted to the panel and, after endorsement, be disseminated in an appropriate way.

The following JNS procedures are ongoing/have been completed:

JNS Procedure “Crosswind” – containing the subgroups “AMOC” and “Risk assessment”
- Type: Normal
- Started on: January 2024
- Status: Ongoing (foreseen to be closed early 2026)

JNS Procedure “Accident in the Gotthard base tunnel with focus on broken wheels”
- Type: Normal
- Started on: December 2023
- Status: Closed on July 11^th, 2024
- Outcome: final report, including Light Impact Assessment
  - Final report
    Note 1: The improved risk control measures from the JNS NP 2024 replace entirely the risk control measures from the JNS NP 2017-2019 for BA 004 (“crack in the rim”). The measures for “crack in the web” (wheel types BA 314 old/ZDB29) remain valid.
    
    Note 2: Early 2025, the JNS Task Force re-worked the Final report that was published in July 2024. The Task Force did not change the content of the final report, but increased the user-friendliness of Part II, Chapter 1 “Risk control measures” through integration of a flowchart and clarificatiosn and further precisions.
    All actors are strongly recommended to study the re-worked Final report to ensure a correct understanding and implementation of the JNS risk control measures or alternative measures.
  - Light Impact Assessment
  - JNS list of assessed wheel types
    Note 3: This list contains the wheel types that were already assessed to determine if the JNS risk control measures apply to them.

JNS Procedure “Consequences of unintended brake applications with LL blocks”
- Type: Normal
- Started on: early February 2021
- Status: closed on March 5^th, 2024
- Outcome: final report, including Light Impact Assessment
  - Final report
    Note: the risk control measures mentioned in this document replace entirely the risk control measures from the previous JNS Urgent Procedure “Extreme effects of thermal overload in special cases of freight operation”
  - Light Impact Assessment

JNS Procedure ““Extreme effects of thermal overload in special cases of freight operation”
- Type: Urgent
- Started on: end November 2021
- Status: closed on February 2nd, 2022
- Outcome: final report, containing three parts:
  - Part 1: Principles and organisation
  - Part 2: Action plan containing short-term risk control measures
    Note: the risk control measures identified during the Urgent Procedure have been entirely replaced by risk control measures identified in the Normal Procedure “Consequences of unintended brake applications with LL blocks”
    Please see the final report of this procedure above.
  - Part 3: Detailed information on the work of the JNS task force

JNS Procedure “Incident of 13.01.2021”
- Type: Urgent
- Started on: February 2021
- Closed April 2021
- Outcome: Immediate temporary safety measures
- Related documents

JNS Procedure “Great Belt bridge accident/incident”
- Type: Normal
- Stated on: June 2019
- Closed April 2022
- Outcome: final report, including three annexes
- General remarks from NSA DK after the closure of the JNS procedure
  - General remarks from The Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority (NSA-DK)

JNS Procedure “Great Belt Bridge Accident”
- Type: Urgent
- Started on: beginning of March 2019
- Status: Closed on 30th of April 2019
- Outcome: Agreed short term mitigation measures

JNS Procedure “Wagon Braking Systems”
- Type: Normal
- Started on: May 2018
- Status: Closed on December 2019
- Outcome: report with conclusions

JNS Procedure: “Broken Wheels”
- Type: Normal
- Started on: August 2017
- Status: Closed on December 2019 – Joint Sector Group continues working on the implementation and updating of the outcome
- Outcome: Agreed long term mitigation measures (of 28 November 2019), template for analysis of broken and cracked wheels (see slide 13 of long term mitigation measures, original version of November 2019 + update of August 2021) and template for analysis of brake systems of wagons (of August 2021).
  Note: The improved risk control measures from the JNS NP 2024 (see above) replace entirely the risk control measures from the JNS NP 2017-2019 for BA 004 (“crack in the rim”). The measures for “crack in the web” (wheel types BA 314 old/ZDB29) remain valid.
- Explanatory letter regarding the update of August 2021

JNS Procedure “Broken Wheels”
- Type: Urgent
- Started on: May 2017
- Status: Closed on July 2017
- see outcome JNS Normal Procedure “Broken Wheels” below

For more information, please contact us jnsera [dot] europa [dot] eu (here.)