The Joint Network Secretariat (JNS) published its final report on the 2023 derailment inside the Gotthard Base Tunnel, providing new risk control measures for rail freight wheelsets. The main changes concern entities in charge of maintenance (ECM), infrastructure managers (IM) and railway undertakings (RU). At the same time, the Swiss Office of Transport (FOT) obtained an extended deadline to appeal a court’s decision to drop its unilateral new rules on the same issue.
The new regulations announced in the JNS final report will be applied to seven types of wheels: BA 004, Db-004sa, BA 390 (the one involved in the Gotthard derailment), RI 025, R32, BA 304, BA 005. They are quite similar fromto the ones that Switzerland is unilaterally trying to introduce, but the deadlines have been changed to provide interested parties more time to implement them.
Both the FOT and the JNS want to introduce new requirements for the diameter of wheels and new parameters for inspections and the scheduling of maintenance checks. Moreover, the JNS rules also state that the type of wheels mentioned above “shall be treated as non-thermostable wheels and their white stripe markings shall be removed”. ECM will be in charge of removing the white stripe markings. They will have to present their plans by 1 February 2026 and all markings need to be removed by 1 July 2027.
The diameter parameters
The new JSN regulations on the diameter of wheels are also addressed to ECM, with a differentiation between wheels mounted on wagons with a nominal axle load higher or lower than 20 tonnes. If the axle load is lower than 20 tonnes, the only change is that they cannot be used in ss-brake applications starting from 1 July 2027. Until then, they can be used in this type of traffic as long as they undergo a visual inspection every 50,000 kilometres.
For wheels mounted on wagons with a nominal axle load higher than 20 tonnes, things get a little more complicated. The JNS is introducing a new minimum in-service diameter of 864 millimetres, which is what Switzerland had in mind as well. Moreover, the new minimum diameter for wheels being re-profiled will be 880 millimetres. Finally, “it is not allowed to re-install wheels with a wheel diameter of 864mm or less”, the JNS rules specify.
The deadline for ECM to implement these measures and meet the new requirements is 1 January 2029, while Switzerland planned to enforce them by the end of 2026. In other words, the JSN requirements allow ECM to take two years longer to comply with the new rules. However, the deadline is shortened to 31 December 2026 for wheels used on wagons running on mountainous sections or in areas with “more severe winter conditions”. Between now and 2029, wheels with a diameter lower than 864 millimetres can run as long as they are inspected every 50,000 kilometres.
Visual inspections and hammer tests
Another important aspect of the JNS new regulations regards visual inspection and hammer tests, and concerns ECM, IM and RU. Starting on 1 February 2026, ECM will have to carry out these safety checks during changes of brake blocks, axle inspections, off-vehicle maintenance and wagon technical inspections. IM and RU will have to do the same before train departures, during changes of brake blocks and after detection of thermal overload. ECM will also have to adjust the reduced limit for residual stress measurements from 400 to 300 megapascals.
Guidelines for IM and RU
The JNS’ new report outlines instructions for IM and RU on how to deal with wheels with or without white stripe markings. In all cases, a wagon will have to be detached in case of detections of issues. For unmarked wheels where an issue is detected, it will be necessary to check the widening of the inner faces. If it is widened, the wagons will be detached; if it is not, the wagon can complete its journey and then be sent to ECM for maintenance.
The same approach will be adopted for marked wheels until 30 June 2027, one day before the deadline to remove the markings from the seven wheel types. This is because IM and RU will have to send wagons with wheels that are still marked but no longer considered thermostable to ECM, which will unmark them. After 1 July 2027, marked wagons with no issue detected will be able to continue to run.
The feud with Switzerland
The introduction of new safety regulations for rail freight wheels has been in the spotlight due to the Swiss decision of implementing its own rules without waiting for a European solution. This led to a still ongoing lawsuit between the FOT and various European rail freight wagon companies. The court has already decided against the FOT, which should be forced to drop the new regulations and, consequently, adopt the ones written by the JNS. However, the Swiss Office obtained an extended deadline to appeal the court’s decision until 24 January.