Authorisation of infrastructure for railway, metro and tram

Application for authorisation

When you plan to put a new, upgraded or renewed rail infrastructure in service you should contact the Swedish Transport Agency as early as possible in the process to discuss the requirements for the authorisation. The Swedish Transport Agency decides if an authorisation is needed. The rail infrastructure has to be authorised when it is put into service.

Please, fill in the template for the project with data regarding the project and the
applicant as early as possible in the process. The template doesn't need to be
complete when the application is sent in, you can make complements during the
project. We accept applications in Swedish or English. For less extensive documents Danish or Norwegian is acceptable. For authorisation of rail infrastructure regulated according to TSIs use the Swedish form TSJ 7080.

For application for authorisation of metros, trams and other light rail infrastructure you should use the Swedish form TSJ 7048.

An authorisation process may take some time. To have a good and efficient process we need a continuous dialog during the project. This facilitates both your and our work including our time for issuing the authorisation.

You shall send the application for authorisation of an infrastructure to jarnvag@transportstyrelsen.se. We prefer electronic documents. When we receive a new application our designated expert contact the applicant and inform on our contact person and business number for the project.

The Swedish Transport Agency will send invoices to the applicant for our work load the current fee can be seen here: Tekniska godkännanden och undantag (link in Swedish).

EU-process for authorisation of railway infrastructure

The harmonised European process "The new approach" with application of TSIs shall in most cases be applied for new, upgraded and renewed railway projects. This means that notified bodies shall assess and certify that the new or modified railway infrastructure fulfills TSI requirements, se below which TSIs may be applicable. Projects where "The new approach" is not applicable are described in the next chapter.

When applying the TSIs the notified body(-ies) shall issue an EC certificate of verification with a technical file for the project. When the applicant has all the relevant certificates he/she shall issue an EC-declaration of verification and send the final application to the Swedish Transport Agency. If there are specific cases we apply the national process for the assessment of these points in the project, se below. The applicant also has to declare that the subsystem fulfils other relevant EU-directives in the EC-declaration. When we have all these documents the Swedish Transport Agency may authorise the subsystem.

The Swedish Transport Agency shall decide if a new authorisation is needed in case of major upgrading or renewals. We shall also decide on which functions that needs to be assessed. By all modifications of existing railway infrastructure the proposer shall apply the EU regulation on CSM Risk assessment (EU No 402/2013 on the common safety method for risk evaluation and assessment amended by EU 2015/1136). In doubtful cases the proposer should consult the Swedish Transport Agency regarding if the modification is a case for authorisation or not.

For railways the EU Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs) are normally valid. The infrastructure should also fulfil national requirements according specific cases in the relevant TSIs. By authorisation of a new or modified railway infrastructure where the directive is applicable one or more of the following TSIs may be applied:

  • TSI Infrastructure, shall always be applied.
  • TSI Energy, applied for projects with a catenary.
  • TSI People with Reduced Mobility (PRM), is applied if there are platforms for passengers in the project.
  • TSI Safety in Railway Tunnels (SRT), is applied if there are tunnels longer than 0,1 km in the project.
  • TSI Command Control and Signalling (CCS), see page "Requirements on trackside control command and signalling " (länk)

The Agency has also issued guides for application of these TSIs:

An infrastructure may get a temporary authorisation according to the national process before the Swedish Transport Agency issues the "permanent" authorisation according to the EU-process.

The national process for authorisation of infrastructure for railway, metro and tram

The Swedish Transport Agency applies the national authorisation process for projects regarding suburban rails, historical lines and for privately owned rail networks used by the owner or infrastructure manager for freight or non-commercial passenger traffic. The national process may also be applied for time limited authorisations before commissioning of a system.
In the national process the Swedish Transport Agency assesses most of the relevant functions and documents of the new or modified infrastructure. However we may ask for assessment of an independent assessor for specific functions. This is set in a dialogue between the Swedish Transport Agency and the applicant.

The authorisation may be done in specific phases, if needed:

  1. Authorisation for test runs on closed tracks
    (e.g. test runs on a track with a new type of point mechanism)
  2. Authorisation for experience operation in commercial traffic
    (e.g. to demonstrate the reliability in Nordic winter conditions)
  3. Time limited authorisation for commercial operation of the infrastructure
    (e.g. pending for final safety case after placing in service examination)
  4. "Permanent" Authorisation valid until further notice when complete authorisation documentation is available.

National technical rules for open points in TSIs

At the moment, the Swedish Transport Agency does not see any need to regulate the open points in the TSIs for Infrastructure. The European Union Agency for Railways is working to close the open points. The open points that might have been relevant for Swedish conditions are included in this work. Therefore, there is no need of national requirements or national regulation of the open points at the moment.

The Swedish Transport Agency applies the national authorisation process for projects regarding suburban rails, historical lines and for privately owned rail networks used by the owner or infrastructure manager for freight or non-commercial passenger traffic. The national process may also be applied for time limited authorisations before commissioning of a system.

In the national process the Swedish Transport Agency assesses most of the relevant functions and documents of the new or modified infrastructure. However we may ask for assessment of an independent assessor for specific functions. This is set in a dialogue between the Swedish Transport Agency and the applicant.

The authorisation may be done in specific phases, if needed:

  1. Authorisation for test runs on closed tracks
    (e.g. test runs on a track with a new type of point mechanism)
  2. Authorisation for experience operation in commercial traffic
    (e.g. to demonstrate the reliability in Nordic winter conditions)
  3. Time limited authorisation for commercial operation of the infrastructure (e.g. pending for final safety case after placing in service examination)

"Permanent" Authorisation valid until further notice when complete authorisation documentation is available