Developments continue in the European rail sector

BELGORAIL, a Belgian railway certification body, has just received additional official recognition in France (qualified body) and has thus had its status as a European certification body confirmed.

BELGORAIL, a rail certification body whose purpose is to certify the compliance of railway vehicles, installations and rail services in relation to European and national technical norms and standards, has just obtained additional recognition.

The French Public Railway Safety Authority (EPSF) has just recently approved BELGORAIL as a qualified body to assess the design and production of new or substantially modified rail systems and subsystems.

The approval relates to all the following rail subsystems: control-command and signalling, rolling stock, infrastructure and energy.

Already a European notified body since 2005 (application of Technical Specifications for Interoperability), the company can now also act in France in the field of rail system certification on the basis of the French national regulations in force.

Created in Belgium in June 2004 by Vinçotte (control and certification body), Agoria (Belgian federation for the technology industry) and Transurb Technirail (engineering consultancy in the rail sector), BELGORAIL has become a major player in the rail sector, which is still undergoing major developments especially following its liberalization.

After having obtained the status of competent body in Luxembourg in 2011 and having been the first accredited European body in 2012 for the certification of Entities in Charge of Maintenance (ECM), the company is continuing to expand its area of activity.

“This new stage is vital to our company’s development”, states Jean-Marc Dupas, the Managing Director. “Having this additional external and official recognition will allow us to continue to develop our activities and to meet the demands of the rail sector, which would like to be able to rely on a unique and competent certification body to work within the framework of diverse European measures (STI, ECM, CSM, etc.) and/or various countries’ national regulations.”

Since its creation in June 2004, the company BELGORAIL has enjoyed rapid growth. It has been awarded the status of notified body within the framework of the interoperability directive (2008/57/EC) and is active in several European countries as well as on an international level for inspections, audits, safety studies (including risk management methods), product certification, entities in charge of maintenance and services in the rail transport sector.