On 25-26th October, the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) organised two workshop sessions on how to supervise rail companies to ensure continuous safe management of operation and maintenance, in the scope of its EuroMed Rail Safety and Interoperability project (EUMedRail).
Overall, these events brought together more than 80 participants from national authorities and railway operators from Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Morocco besides experts from the French (EPSF) and Irish (CRR) national safety authorities, the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF) and ERA.
During the sessions, discussions revolved around core elements of the supervision process as developed in the EU legislation: from the design of a strategy, effective communication with operating companies, delivery of supervision activities such as audits of safety management system processes and procedures, inspections of technical assets, and other operational checks, till the outcomes and the revision of supervision plans and later activities.
In addition to the explanations of the EU legislation and its practical implementation in Ireland and France, participants had the opportunity to take part in group exercises to exchange views on common supervision principles (proportionality between enforcement and risk, consistency of the approach, risk-based supervision, sound resource management, transparent decision-making, accountability, and cooperation) and on how to prioritise supervision activities to areas of greatest risks for safety.
For further information, please contact: EUMedRail@era.europa.eu