Rail EMC
EMC Requirements for Rail Products. All products designed to be used in the rail environment must comply with the EMC Directive in addition to any other legislative or contractual requirements. In practice this means all products (including the whole locomotive) must be tested/assessed to the European Standard series EN 50121, published under the general title "Railway applications - Electromagnetic Compatibility".
The rail EMC standard (EN 50121) series consists of:
| Part | Title |
|---|---|
| EN 50121 Part 1 | General |
| EN 50121 Part 2 | Emission of the whole railway system to the outside world |
| EN 50121 Part 3-1 | Rolling stock - Train and complete vehicle |
| EN 50121 Part 3-2 | Rolling stock - Apparatus |
| EN 50121 Part 4 | Emission and immunity of the signalling and telecommunications apparatus |
| EN 50121 Part 5 | Emission and immunity of fixed power supply installations and apparatus |
The EMC requirements are detailed in both the EMC Directive in its own right and also cross refers to other European Directives aimed specifically at the railway industry. The following list summarises the segments covering rail products.
- European Interoperability of the conventional rail system
- The Trans-European High Speed Rail System
- London Underground rail system
We have many years of experience of testing for the rail industry both in the UK and worldwide. We have provided testing and consultancy on some of the biggest rail projects in the world including the Mass Transit Rail (MTR) system in Hong Kong, Channel Tunnel, West Coast Main Line upgrade in the UK and London Underground upgrades.
We provide professional technical services so that you can meet EMC and Environmental requirements relating to reliability covered by the standards. Our expertise will enable you to satisfy an important part of your compliance plan or safety case.
Railway EMC - laboratory testing
We have one of the most comprehensively equipped testing facilities in UK. We are a UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) accredited test laboratory for the rail EMC standards and can accommodate small signalling equipment to whole locomotives. Our test capabilities enable us to test to the high levels required by the EN50121 series of standards detailed above and cover all aspects of the standards.
Railway EMC - on-site testing / surveys
Where products are too physically large to be assessed in a test chamber we can test in final installation. Our engineers have the right safety permits to enable trackside measurements to be taken on mainline and underground infrastructure.
We can perform EMC measurements on the whole rolling stock or perform EMC site surveys. The surveys can form either a 'before and after check' to ensure that additional equipment (for example a substation) hasn't affected the RF environment or performing measurements to confirm the suitability of location for sitting equipment.
Railway EMC - consultancy
There is a lot of paperwork associated to EMC testing and certification of rail products – some of this is due to the complex environments (ensuring that any emission limits that are set are suitable to protect the local radio spectrum, and some due to the documentation requirements for the industry.
TRaC can assist with the paperwork associated to EMC testing and certification of rail products and prepare method statements, risk assessments associated with testing and test plans. Each of these are important in the supply chain events and can relate to stage payments in the case of large projects.
