Appendix 8b

PUBLISHED STANDARDS RELATED TO OUR ACTIVITY

Qualification System for Railway Trackwork Contractors EFRTC in collaboration with EIM – European Infrastructure Managers have as objective an open European market for all railway track works. For this the actions to take are:  Harmonisation of procurement procedures;  Introduce the application of the European Standard EN Qualification system for Railway Trackwork Contractors in the TSI on high speed and conventional lines in order that the standard becomes mandatory;  European List of qualified Railway Trackwork Contractors for the type of activity and by size of contract;  Short list where national conditions are applied on technical requirements of trackwork equipment;  Short list to meet the scope of the standard EN 14969, i.e. identify the trackwork contractors that can be invited for tendering trackwork contracts.

REVIEW OF THE STANDARD EN The main points of review are:  Administrative and legal obligation:  Registration number Chamber of Commerce; legal status; year of founding  Declarations concerning the company’s and managing directors legal behaviour  Proof that the applicant has not suspended his business, is not the subject of insolvency procedure and is not bankrupt  Overview of taxes in the last three years  Financial criteria for qualification:  Statement by an authorised accountant that the information supplied is correct unless formally published annual accounts of the last three years are supplied  In case the applicant is a daughter company, these data can be supplied by the parent company, together with a declaration concerning financial guarantees by the parent company

 Technical criteria for qualification:  Type of activity: the In-track welding must be incorporated in the activities of maintenance and track laying or renewal  Qualification by activity and size of contracts: annual turnover in each category for the past three years. For each project declaration by the IM of acceptance of works in accordance with EN “Plain line”, EN “Switches and crossing”, EN “Grinding and milling”  Qualification of personnel: key personnel must be proper personnel and speak local language  Equipment: the heavy equipment must be in accordance with the standards prEN Part 1 – 3 “Railbound construction and maintenance machines” and with circulation certificate realised by the national safety authority according directive 2004/49/EC  Qualification certificate:  Qualification body: national Infrastructure Manager  Qualification validity: three years  Review period: three years, in cases of changed or series complaints at once  Quality index: introduce an index of the Infrastructure unavailability imputable to the contractor

The second step to the review of the EN Qualification system for Railway Trackwork Contractors, is the qualification of the personnel for Railway Trackworks. For this we have the following:  EN : Qualification of aluminothermic welders, approval of contractors and acceptance of welds;  prEN xxxxx: Safety protection on the track during work;  Standards to elaborate  Qualification of Drivers of railbound construction and maintenance machines  Qualification of Technical Supervision Personnel & Technical Engineers of Trackworks

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