Simpler, lower cost AC electrification standards

The new standards make it possible to reduce the minimum height of the OCL in some circumstances. This will help make the future electrification of existing lines more cost effective. This change will reduce the need for expensive infrastructure interventions at existing structures where the available space is limited, such as overbridges and tunnels.

As well as removing those requirements that don’t meet the criteria for NTRs, considerable effort has been put into removing duplication of requirements. Duplication of requirements across standards has been a source of increased costs in the past, so this goes some way to eliminating unnecessary cost and complexity.

One example of a rolling stock requirement that has been removed from the RGS is for vehicle bonding. These requirements are covered in other, somewhat complex, legislation. So, rather than repeating the requirements, the new RIS now contains clearer guidance on how bonding should be applied. This gives some options as to how to meet the requirements based on the particular area of use.

The overall effect of the changes should be to improve clarity and ease of application for the requirements. It should now be easier to differentiate between a requirement which supports authorization for the energy and vehicle subsystem prior to use, and those which support the establishment of vehicle and route compatibility for a particular use. The need for third-party conformity assessments has been reduced in some areas too.