Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the profile and tasks of other train crew members

Directive 2007/59/EC on the certification of train drivers operating locomotives and trains on the railway system in the Community establishes the minimum requirements an applicant must meet to obtain a train driver’s licence or a harmonised complementary certificate.

The main aim of that Directive was to make it easier for train drivers to drive in other Member States and to move from one Member State to another, but also to make it easier for them to move from one railway undertaking to another, and, more generally, for licences and harmonised complementary certificates to be recognised by all railway sector stakeholders.

While Directive 2007/59/EC does not cover other train crew members performing safety-critical tasks, Article 28 states that the Commission shall present a report and, if appropriate, bring forward a legislative proposal on a certification system for the other crew members on the basis of a report prepared by the European Railway Agency (ERA). The Agency shall identify the profile and tasks of other crew members performing safety-critical tasks whose professional qualifications contribute accordingly to railway safety which should be regulated at European Union level by means of a system of licences or certificates which may be similar to the system established by this Directive.

This Communication takes into account the report prepared by ERA, after consulting stakeholders, which was delivered to the Commission in 2010. Before adopting this communication, the Commission services discussed the results of the ERA report with the social partners in the context of the sectoral Social Dialogue Committee.

This Communication focuses on other crew members for passenger trains. Freight-related common tasks are linked to preparing the freight train rather than during the train run. Train preparation does not necessarily require staff accompanying the train.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)33: Follow the progress of this report through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:033:FIN

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