UIC develops and distributes IRSs in order to help railway stakeholders to achieve greater harmonisation and collaboration in daily railway operations. As IRSs are gradually replacing UIC leaflets, the TTI (Train-Track Interaction) and Rolling Stock Sector within the UIC Rail System Department have been collaborating to provide recommendations and clarifications with regard to the migration of Leaflet 505-1 to the new IRS 50505-1, which was published in January 2021.
The first edition of IRS 50505-1 consists of:
- a general application part, which retains the same structure, contents and annexes of the former Leaflet 505-1: Railway transport stock - Rolling stock construction gauge,
- a specific application part, at the request of and formally submitted by the OSJD, which applies to vehicles authorised for international traffic on OSJD member networks.
The IRS defines the reference profile of the kinematic gauge for powered vehicles, coaches and wagons, sets out the rules associated with the reference profile of the kinematic gauge for determining the maximum construction gauge, specifies the positions of the various gauges in relation to each other and provides a definition of each, and enables the maximum construction gauges to be determined.
The document is available from the UIC ETF Shop: https://www.shop-etf.com/en/catalogsearch/result/?order=publication_date&dir=desc&q=50505-1
UIC is truly grateful for the consensus achieved in producing this IRS and the OSJD’s valuable encouragement and commitment to contributing to sharing and harmonisation of good practices, helping to ensure that IRSs are as universal as possible.
A special mention also goes to all of the UIC staff involved in producing this new IRS over the past year, especially in the Rolling Stock and TTI Sectors, the Standardisation Platform and the experts from the Joint UIC-OSJD working group on IRSs.
As a result of this international collaboration, the document was awarded by the UIC Standardisation Platform on 16 March as one of the best new IRSs in the “Standardisation Interfaces” category.
