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 ““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:
- JNS Procedure “Consequences of unintended brake applications with LL blocks”
- Type: Normal
- Started on: early February 2022
- Ongoing
- For this Normal Procedure, fixed brake events involving LL brake blocks are collected. Please find below an explanatory document that explains the data collection process (criteria for relevant cases,tasks of the different actors involved, practical information, ..) and the template to be used. All information received will be treated as confidential. The Agency will store this information on a dedicated part of its extranet, which is only accessible to the members of the dedicated 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
- Revised measures on transport with semi-trailers on pocket wagons in Denmark
- JNS Urgent Measures Great Belt Incident - Suggestion for immediate temporary mitigation measures
- Banedanmark’s reply to suggestions for immediate temporary mitigation measures suggested by CER et al. (dated 1 April 2021)
- 8 aspects will have to be treated further within the normal JNS procedure Great Belt Incident 2021
- 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
- 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).
- 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 here.
The different JNS procedures and Overarching Rules can be found below.
JNS Urgent Procedure
English (753.49 KB - PDF)JNS Normal Procedure
English (305.66 KB - PDF)JNS Overarching Rules
English (425.59 KB - PDF)JNS Urgent Procedure notification form
English (91.2 KB - DOCX)