By July 2020, the European rail sector should implement IRS 90930, a new standard in energy measuring. It includes the installation of onboard Energy Measuring Systems (EMS) in the locomotives and passenger trains as well as the data exchanges on ground. Bart van der Spiegel, an expert in energy management at Infrabel, talks to RailTech.com about this improvement and its significance for the railway undertakings in Europe.
“The IRS 90930 will replace the UIC 930 Leaflet issued in 2009,” says Bart van der Spiegel. July 2020 was set as the deadline to implement the new standard. According to Infrabel’s expert, this will have a great impact on the rail sector. First, it will change the data exchange. “The biggest consequence is obviously the change in the format for the data exchanges on ground. The Leaflet 930 used EDIFACT or UTILTS. The new one uses the same data blocks that shall be used by all new EMS for the communication to ground. There is no need to change the data format anymore on ground. Other data blocks that are available on-board can be forwarded to other actors on ground,” specifies Mr van der Spiegel.
Another important impact of IRS 90930 is an updated Role Model. “This is better aligned with the daily reality of the rail sector. Locomotives are equipped with EMS by a Vehicle Keeper. Different railway undertakings are operating trains using these leased locomotives. The IRS 90930 also specifies the tasks and responsibilities for all the roles,” adds the expert.
Besides the new standard in energy measuring, the European countries should develop their own Settlement System. It should be also implemented by July 2020. Bart van der Spiegel lists six different functions of the IRS 90930 Settlement. The first one is the data exchange. “Exchange is collecting the Energy Metering Data from a Data Collecting System (the ground server communicating with the EMS on-board). A first validation is done. Certainly, the location data needs to be corrected as Exchange uses this to verify the Settlement Area where the consumption took place. Exchange transfers the Energy Metering Data to the system of the Settlement Area where the consumption took place,” notes the expert.