NEW LIGHT RAIL ENTERS OPERATION IN BERGEN THE 22nd OF JUNE
The City Council of Bergen decided in the year 2000 to build a new tram line from Byparken (Starvhusgaten) in the city centre to Nesttun, a major suburban area of Bergen. To realize this decision a project group was established, named Bybanen, to take the responsibility to build the infrastructure and do the procurement of Light Rail Vehicles (LRV). The line and the LRVs are now in the last phase of the testing and at the 22nd of June the public operation of the tram line starts.
Scandpower has in this project been assigned in the safety assessment (risk analysis) of the construction of the new infrastructure and as an Independent Safety Assessor (ISA) for the LRV. Early in the project the Bybanen Project was requested by the Norwegian Railway Inspectorate (NRI) to assign an ISA for the LRV delivery project. This assignment was given to Scandpower based on the experience with several deliveries of rolling stock to Norway. The scope of work was familiar; to assess compliance with the Norwegian railway acts and the NRI regulations and consequently the EN 50126, Application Guide Railway RAMS (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, Safety), which standard is mandatory by NRI regulations in all new railway projects in Norway. Hence, the assessment embraced both the Bybanen Project and the Rolling Stock supplier, Stadler Rail, in Berlin.
As an ISA, Scandpower has approached this task by different activities to ensure the Bybanen Project's overall compliance with the safety requirements. This approach includes a number of project phase related safety audits of both Bybanen and Stadler Rail, E.g EN 50126 life-cycle phase 2 to 9. In addition to safety audits the ISA tasks included investigation of design documentation of safety critical systems and structures as carbody, bogies, brakes, etc. and a system review of the risk assessments of all risk related systems. These investigations and reviews were supported by Jotne EPM Engineering subcontracted to the ISA task. The method to select the systems and structures was based on a Hazid analysis approach and the use of the experiences from former assignments in train delivery projects and operation. On-site production inspections and participation in FAI's were also a part of the ISA tasks and performed for selected systems and structures throughout the manufacturing and testing phase. The sum of the ISA tasks proved to have an influence on both the Bybanen Project and Stadler Rail's Safety work to demonstrate and document an acceptable safety level of the LRV operation in Bergen.
The results of the ISA tasks was at the end summarized in a final assessment report with the conclusion that operation of the Stadler Rail LRV has demonstrated an acceptable level of safety in operation and compliance with the Norwegian Railway Act, NRI's rules and regulations and the EN norm 50126. From this end NRI approved the Stadler Rail LRV's for operation in Bergen.
The assignment as an ISA has gained Scandpower with broader experience with the train manufacturer's and the EN50126 RAMS process and the role and tasks for an independent safety assessor.
For more information contact;
Bjørn Arnegaard, bar@scandpower.com
Terje Nilsen, tni@scandpower.com