# EUR-Lex - 52013DC0033 - EN

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# 52013DC0033

**REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the profile and tasks of other train crew members /* COM/2013/033 final */**

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE
AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

on the profile and tasks of other train
crew members

(Text with EEA relevance)

1.           Introduction

Directive 2007/59/EC[1] on the certification of train
drivers operating locomotives and trains on the railway system in the Community
establishes the minimum requirements an applicant must meet to obtain a train
driver’s licence or a harmonised complementary certificate.

The main aim
of that Directive was to make it easier for train drivers to drive in other
Member States and to move from one Member State to another, but also to make it
easier for them to move from one railway undertaking to another, and, more generally,
for licences and harmonised complementary certificates to be recognised by all
railway sector stakeholders.

Since the
entry into force of Directive 2007/59/EC, the Commission has already adopted
additional legislation, in accordance with the provisions set out in the Directive.

By its
decision of 29 October 2009[2],
the Commission adopted basic parameters for registers of train driving licences
and complementary certificates, pursuant to Article 22(4) of
Directive 2007/59/EC.

On 3 December
2009, as required by Article 4(4) of Directive 2007/59/EC, the Commission
adopted Commission Regulation 36/2010[3]
on Community models for train driving licences, complementary certificates,
certified copies and application forms for train driving licences.

The Commission
also adopted a Decision on 22 November 2011[4]
on criteria for the recognition of training centres involved in the training of
train drivers, on criteria for the recognition of examiners of train drivers
and on criteria for the organisation of examinations in accordance with
Directive 2007/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, as well as
a Recommendation[5]
dated 22 November 2011 on the procedure for the recognition of training centres
and of examiners of train drivers in accordance with Directive 2007/59/EC of
the European Parliament and the Council.

While
Directive 2007/59/EC does not cover other train crew members performing
safety-critical tasks, Article 28 states that the Commission shall present a
report and, if appropriate, bring forward a legislative proposal on a
certification system for the other crew members on the basis of a report
prepared by ERA. The Agency shall identify the profile and tasks of other crew
members performing safety-critical tasks whose professional qualifications
contribute accordingly to railway safety which should be regulated at European
Union level by means of a system of licences or certificates which may be
similar to the system established by this Directive.

The motivation
for such a request was to increase the freedom of movement of workers and
safety on EU railways; for this purpose special attention should be paid to
other crew members performing safety-critical tasks on locomotives and trains.
Minimum requirements concerning medical fitness and professional qualifications
are already set out in the TSI on operation and traffic management. However, as
that TSI is implemented via national implementation plans, and to some extent
only applies to cross-border services, there is some legal uncertainty about
the implications of accepting such staff in the safety certification process of
railway undertakings, as well as in terms of mobility between railway
undertakings. This is why the Agency was requested to prepare a report on the
certification of other crew members performing safety-critical tasks.

This Communication takes into account the
report[6]
prepared by the European Railway Agency (ERA), after consulting stakeholders, which was delivered to the Commission in 2010. Before
adopting this communication, the Commission services discussed the results of
the ERA report with the social partners in the context of the sectoral Social
Dialogue Committee.

This Communication focuses on other crew
members for passenger trains. Freight-related common tasks are linked to preparing
the freight train rather than during the train run. Train preparation does not
necessarily require staff accompanying the train.

2.           Legislative framework

The applicable legislative framework
includes mainly:

·
Directive 2004/49/EC on railway safety, which establishes
a common approach to safety. This directive provides a system of certification
of railway undertakings which includes, within the safety management system,
responsibility for defining and carrying out staff training;

·
Directive 2008/57/EC on railway
interoperability, which establishes the framework for the definition of
requirements applicable to the railway system components in the form of
technical specifications for interoperability (TSIs). These TSIs also include
requirements for staff involved in the operation and maintenance of the railway
system in the form of minimum professional qualifications and health and safety
conditions.

3.           The current situation as
regards job profiles and tasks of other crew members performing safety-critical
tasks

3.1.        Regulation of tasks in
passenger services

In its report, ERA collected data on the
number of other crew members, provided by several railway undertakings in 11
Member States. By extrapolation, the number of other crew members for passenger
trains is estimated at 70 000 in Europe, including Switzerland and Norway.

Nearly all Member States[7] (20 out of 22) regulate the
profession, although in different ways and with different levels of detail.
However, pursuant to Directive 2004/49/EC[8]
on safety on the European Community’s railways and amending Council Directive
95/18/EC on the licensing of railway undertakings and Directive 2001/14/EC
on the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges
for the use of railway infrastructure and safety certification (the Railway
Safety Directive), decisions relating to the way in which tasks must be
performed should be taken at the level of the railway undertaking.

Of the 20 Member States, 14 also regulate
profiles and tasks at national level.

An analysis of all the tasks of other train
crew shows that:

·
59 tasks have been identified as tasks carried
out by other crew members in passenger services, of which 48 are operational
safety tasks and 11 are typical commercial tasks that must be carried out
during the train journey (ticket inspection, customer announcements ...);

·
21 of the 48 operational safety tasks are
regulated in the 14 Member States that regulate tasks in passenger services at
national level. These 21 operational safety tasks are closely linked to Annex J
of TSI OPE[9]
on the minimum elements with respect to professional qualification for the
tasks associated with the accompanying of trains.

3.2.        Identification
of profile patterns in passenger services

Many of the job profiles for other crew
members in passenger services have been identified. Two profile patterns (PP1
and PP2) have been introduced as the common core tasks of different job
profiles from different Member States; they are
detailed in the Annex. Although the majority of the tasks assigned are similar
in the two profile patterns, the main difference between PP1 and PP2 concerns
‘train preparation’. While PP1 includes almost all the tasks related to train
preparation, only one train preparation task is assigned to PP2.

Within these two profile patterns, common
safety-critical tasks have been identified such as: the door closure procedure,
train departure and passenger evacuation in the event of degraded and emergency
situations. Most of the railway undertakings have implemented a certification
system for PP1, but not for PP2.

3.3.        Basic requirements and
certification

The basic requirements for minimum age,
education, linguistic skills, medical and psychological checks and the
professional competences required to become other crew members are already very
similar throughout the EU. These basic requirements are almost identical for the two profiles and are
already covered by TSI OPE, which, however, currently concerns only
cross-border traffic.

Nine Member States have binding rules for
railway undertakings on procedures for assessing other crew members. In 13
Member States there are national regulations governing training provisions to
ensure that knowledge and skills are maintained at least to a standard level
and to manage the level of competence. For passenger services, railway
undertakings generally provide in-house training and examinations. The training
course generally lasts between 4 and 16 weeks.

Railway undertakings have developed
specific procedures in passenger services to maintain skills at the appropriate
level. They organise regular or continuous training courses at variable
intervals; in 12 of them, intermittent assessment procedures have been
established, varying from every 3 months to every 3
years.

National Safety Authorities are already
able to assess compliance with the minimum basic requirements related to other
train crew through the certification of the Safety Management Systems of
railway undertakings under Annex III point (e) of Directive 2004/49/EC.

3.4.        Mobility of workers

The number of crew members changing of
companies could be annually between 2000 to 4000 if a crew member changes 1 to
2 times during his 35 years career, as there are about 70000 other crew members
in Europe. This figure does not take into account the fact that staff also
leave their job for another activity, within the rail sector or outside it, or
that staff may be transferred when a new company takes over the staff of a
previous company under a new Public Service Obligations contract.

Several railway undertakings have not
experienced worker mobility because they are the sole or government railway
undertaking. However, even those which do have some experience impose specific
company training courses when they recruit new on-board members from other
railway undertakings. The reason for this specific supplementary training is
the difference in rolling stock and infrastructure. There could also be
different procedures in different railway undertakings.

Small companies have more experience with
the mobility of workers because they hire crew members from the incumbents.
However, there is no evidence that the absence of a certification scheme for
other train crew is a barrier to mobility and the Commission has not received
any complaints on this issue.

3.5.        Homogeneity
with respect to professional qualifications

There is a wide variety of job profiles
throughout the European Union.

At this stage, it would not be appropriate
to harmonise all these for the following reasons:

·
On the one hand, both the ‘door closing’ and
‘train departure (operations completed)’ tasks are operational procedures that
could vary from one company to another due to different technical solutions.
They should remain at the level of the company and should not be regulated at
EU level.

·
On the other hand, the remaining common tasks
are all related to passenger safety. They are generally regulated at national
level and are defined at EU level:

–
passenger protection in degraded and emergency
situations;

–
passenger evacuation in emergency situations.

According to point 4.6 and Annex J on the
minimum elements relevant to professional qualification for the tasks
associated with accompanying trains of TSI OPE, all professional staff should
have the required knowledge to manage degraded operations, train evacuation and
passenger safety and the ability to put that knowledge into practice. Also,
according to point 4.6.1 on the tunnel-specific competence of the train crew
and other staff of TSI SRT[10],
‘all train crew shall have knowledge of the appropriate safety behaviour in
tunnels and in particular be able to evacuate a train in a tunnel. This
involves instructing the passengers to go to the next coach or to exit the
train, and to lead them outside the train to a safe place’.

An improvement of the current framework
would consist in detailing or extending the requirements for tasks which
already exist in TSI OPE, so that Annex J covers all the tasks identified in
profile patterns PP1 and PP2 of other crew members.

3.6.        Recognition of
professional qualifications

The recognition of professional
qualifications is not often regulated in the case of other crew members in
passenger services. Indeed, only five Member States have a certification system
regulated by national binding rules for passenger trains. They all concern PP1
and for four of them the certificates are issued by the NSA. For the fifth the
certificate is issued by the railway undertaking. In freight services there is
a certification system in five Member States out of nine and in all of them the
NSA or the competent ministry is responsible for issuing certificates.

This situation seems to be a barrier to the
Single European Rail Area because the only pre-condition for a railway
undertaking to operate in one Member State within the current legislative
framework should be to obtain a safety certificate (part A and part B).
However, Member States may have national rules on this aspect, if it is not yet
covered by TSIs, and, as already explained in section 3.3, the TSI on operation
and traffic management is only applicable to cross-border services as far as
professional qualifications are concerned. Against this background extension of
the scope of that TSI to domestic services is important and ERA should be
mandated to prepare a recommendation for that extension.

3.7.        Potential
benefits of a European system attesting the competences of crew members with
safety-critical tasks

Article 13(3) of the Railway Safety
Directive (Directive 2004/49/EC) already provides that ‘When recruiting new train drivers, staff on board trains and staff
performing vital safety tasks, railway undertakings must be able to take into
account any training, qualifications and experience acquired previously from
other railway undertakings. For this purpose, such members of staff shall be
entitled to have access to, obtain copies and communicate all documents
attesting to their training, qualifications and experience’.

For the tasks of other crew members
performing safety-critical tasks, further harmonisation could be a solution to
facilitating the mobility of workers without this having a negative impact on
the level of safety. The target should be that a
railway undertaking employing other crew members should be able to take into
account competences acquired earlier on safety-critical tasks and should limit
additional training as far as possible at a lower cost. A common scheme at
European level should allow this target to be achieved.

The focus should be on railway-specific
tasks, such as passenger assistance in degraded and emergency situations. With the opening‑up of the market in international passenger
services on 1 January 2010 it would be logical for the competence developed by
other crew members regarding passenger protection and evacuation in degraded
and emergency situations to be the same from one company to another throughout the
European Union. This would facilitate a common
understanding and would have an added value for
passenger safety. It could also have a positive impact on the mobility of
workers. These common tasks are generally the ones
already listed in Annex J, point 3 of the TSI OPE.

Such an objective becomes even more
important with the opening up of the domestic passenger market proposed in the
context of the fourth railway package.

On the other hand, tasks that are
procedure-related and rolling‑stock dependent, such as door closure,
which may vary from one company to another (due to different technical
solutions), should not be considered. A crew member who moves to a different railway
undertaking would indeed need specific training in the procedures of that
railway undertaking and its rolling stock.

4.           task-oriented
attestation of risks and passenger assistance training delivered by the railway
undertaking

With a view to recognising the competence
developed by a crew member to provide assistance and ensure passenger safety in
the event of degraded and emergency situations, the Commission intends to
develop at European level an attestation of the risks and passenger assistance
training delivered to the job holder in compliance with all the minimum basic
requirements concerning other crew members from the TSI OPE.

The delivery of these attestations should
be the responsibility of railway undertakings employing or contracting workers,
and should be based on a two‑level system, using a set of minimum
requirements established at EU level and additional requirements established at
company level. This training could also be provided by a training centre
external to the railway undertaking, but the attestation should be delivered by
the railway undertaking under its responsibility.

The attestation process should be developed
around four important points:

·
Railway undertakings should organise training
sessions on the railway operation risks related to passenger safety and
passenger assistance. This training would be covered by the Safety Management
System (SMS) of the railway undertakings and be based on requirements clearly
specified in OPE TSIs.

·
At the end of the training course, railway
undertakings should issue a “attestation of risks and passenger assistance
training’, provided under their Safety Management System, to the other crew
members. This should cover all the harmonised skills provided in TSI OPE as a
minimum and should also mention any additional skills acquired during the training
course.

·
This attestation should be valid throughout the
European Union and must be taken into account by the railway undertakings when
they recruit staff.

·
The attestation delivered to the job holders
(other crew members) becomes their property. They would then have the
opportunity to use this attestation again should they wish to change company.

This attestation scheme does not impose any
additional training, other than that currently required within the framework of
the safety management system and already defined in the TSI OPE.

The attestation issue should remain at
company level for both administrative and economic reasons, to avoid additional
costs for railway undertakings as well as important additional tasks for NSAs.

The format and content of the attestation
might mirror to a certain extent the requirements set out in Regulation
36/2010/EC for the complementary certificates of train drivers, adapted to this
specific purpose.

Article 13(3) of the Railway Safety
Directive already provides a legal base for this attestation; where appropriate
the Commission will propose a minor modification of Annex III in order to
clarify this aspect. In addition the Commission will propose an update to TSI
OPE to specify the scope of the training attestation and the TSI OPE.

Additional tasks (whether or not safety
related) and additional requirements concerning professional qualifications may
be foreseen at company level without impeding the mobility of workers.

Recognising other crew members’ competence
at EU level would have an added value for the safety of passengers and could
have a positive impact on the mobility of workers, while reducing the cost of
redundant training for railway undertakings.

The representatives of railway undertakings
and of infrastructure managers (CER and EIM) consider that existing legislation
provides already all the necessary requirements and that a certification or
licensing system for other crew members should not bring any useful new element
to those already defined, but could involve high costs. On the other side, ETF,
the European Transport Workers' Federation demands a European certification
scheme for on-board personnel, including a licence delivered by the national
safety authorities and a complementary certificate delivered by the railway
undertaking.

5.           Regulation by Member
States of safety-critical tasks performed by other crew members

As mentioned in section 2.1, most Member
States have defined national binding rules to regulate the profession in
different ways and with different degrees of detail.

Those national binding rules, which have
been established by the national authorities or have been transferred from the
national company to the national level, must be applied by all railway
undertakings operating in those Member States.

Generally speaking, these regulations
seem not to be fully compliant with European legislation for three reasons:

·
They are not fully compliant with TSI OPE, which
stipulates what must be done, since some Member States prescribe how it
must be done.

·
Regulation at national level seems to restrict
business and particularly the mobility of workers. Moreover, those company
rules (indirect rules) which become national binding rules give historical
railway undertakings a clear competitive advantage.

·
When national authorities establish detailed
operational procedures, they take over responsibilities that should fall on the
railway undertakings and the infrastructure managers. The detailed regulation
of tasks at national level could limit the responsibilities of the railway
undertakings and might be in contradiction with Article 4(3) of the Safety
Directive.

Unless there is some particular aspect of a
network that requires specific rules, rules relating to the way in which the
tasks must be performed should be made at the level of the railway undertaking
and not at national level. Indeed, even if the procedures change from one
railway undertaking to another, what is important is that the task is
performed.

Consequently, the Commission intends to ask
the Member States to review those of their national regulations that are
required to be in line with TSI OPE. This will be done in the context of the
implementation of the Railway Safety Directive and the analysis of national
safety rules currently being conducted by ERA.

6.           Conclusion: Next steps

The Commission will request the European
Railway Agency to develop for other crew members the necessary provisions for
an attestation focused on passenger safety issues. The Agency will identify the
common safety‑critical tasks of other crew members not related to vehicle
design/rolling stock and will define the content of the training attestation
and the scope of Annex J of TSI OPE. The Agency will develop a model of
attestation training in safety‑critical tasks, to be delivered to the job
holder. An amendment in Annex III to the Railway Safety Directive will make a
provision for this attestation process to be part of the Railway Undertaking
Safety Management System.

The need of this attestation scheme is
reinforced with the domestic passenger market opening proposed within the
fourth railway package.

The Commission will ask the European
Railway Agency to include in its analysis of the National Safety rules a
specific chapter on the national binding rules related to other crew members
and to what extent they go beyond their scope. Should these rules be non-
compatible with EU legislation, the Commission could take appropriate measures
to ensure their correct application.

Other crew members form a professional group
that plays an important role for a safe railway system with respect to
operational safety and to passenger safety and security. The Commission
believes that its proposals will reinforce the safety performances and improve
the quality of this important railway profession as well as supporting the
mobility of its workers.

ANNEX
Description of the main tasks within the profile patterns (PP)

In all, 17 tasks are assigned to PP1 and
regulated in at least 50% of the 11 Member States where PP1 exists. These tasks
are:

·
Check train composition:

–
‘Check train composition’

–
‘Check train composition document/documentation’

·
Checks and test before departure:

–
‘Brake status/braking system’

–
‘Train signals in place’

·
Train departure at any station:

–
‘Door closing’

–
‘Train departure (operations completed)’

·
Train run:

–
‘Emergency brake –reset after use and report to
the driver’

–
‘On-board communication (in particular passenger
safety)’

·
Operation in degraded mode:

–
‘Passenger protection’

–
‘Train departure’

–
‘Reporting on any unusual occurrences’

·
Operation in emergency situations:

–
‘Decision on train stop’

–
‘Passenger protection’

–
‘Passenger evacuation’

–
‘Train departure –operation completed–‘

–
‘Informing/communicating with driver’

–
‘Informing/communicating with railway
undertaking’

Concerning
PP2, there are only five tasks that are assigned to PP2 and regulated in at
least 50 % of the six Member States where PP2 exists. These tasks are:

·
Train departure at any station:

–
‘Door closing’

–
‘Train departure (operations completed)’

·
Operation in degraded mode:

–
‘Passenger protection’

·
Operation in emergency situations:

–
‘Passenger protection’

–
‘Passenger evacuation’

The ‘shunting’ task is assigned in
different ways in Member States and is not taken into account in these profile
patterns.

[1]               OJ
L315 3.12.2007.

[2]               OJ
L8 13.1.2010.

[3]               OJ
L13 19.1.2010.

[4]               OJ
L314 29.11.2011.

[5]               OJ
L314 29.11.2011.

[6]               Report on the profile and tasks of the other crew
members performing safety-critical tasks under article 28 of Directive
2007/59/EC. Interoperability Unit ref ERA/REP/14-2010/INT of 27.09.2010. Not
published

[7]               Data from some Member States were insufficient to be
taken into account. Information from Norway is included.

[8]               OJ
L220 21.6.2004.

[9]               Commission Decision of 11 August 2006 concerning the
Technical Specification for Interoperability relating to the subsystem Traffic
Operation and Management of the trans-European conventional rail system (notified
under document number C(2006) 3593) as amended by Decision 2010/640/EU,
Decision 2009/107/EC and Decisions 2008/231/EC, OJ L 359, 18.12.2006.

[10]             Commission
Decision of 20 December 2007 concerning the technical specifications of
interoperability relating to ‘safety in railway tunnels’ in the trans-European
conventional and high-speed rail system (notified under document C(2007)6450),
OJ L64 of 7 March 2008.