Railway safety performance in the European Union

Assessing safety management
systems
The railway safety directive requires national safety
authorities to assess the safety management systems
(SMSs) of railway undertakings (RUs) and infrastructure
managers (IMs). If the SMS meets requirements set out
in the railway safety directive the NSA can issue a safety
certificate to an RU or an authorisation to an IM. This is
known as Part A certification. The Part B certificate relates
to the network specifics for the infrastructure and/or the
vehicles used and operated. Part A certificates for RUs are
valid throughout the EU, whereas the RUs will need to
obtain a Part B certificate for each Member State in which
they operate.
The Agency issued draft assessment criteria in 2007 for
NSAs to use when assessing the SMS relevant for the Part A
certificate. The criteria, that together with a set of principles
for both the assessment process and the supervision
regime, form the common safety method on conformity
assessment (CSM CA), became regulation in 2010.
Safety management system
A safety management system (SMS) is a
documented process for managing risks, integrating
the operation of the railway, the vehicles and the
infrastructure. It helps to ensure that railway
undertakings and infrastructure managers are
operating safely and maintaining their part of the
railway systems.
Harmonisation of the assessment of the SMS
ensures that the market is open and competitive
because each Member State will be adopting a
consistent and transparent process for managing
safety. The Agency has recently developed,
together with the NSAs, guidance for SMSs. It is
available on the Agency’s website.
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