Upcoming launch of new railway standards

UPCOMING LAUNCH OF

NEW RAILWAY STANDARDS

Mr Yee Boon Cheow, Co-Convenor, Working Group on TR 81, TR 85 and TR 90, Standards Development Organisation, IES, tells ‘The Singapore Engineer’ that the objective in developing the standards is to foster a common, consistent understanding among stakeholders.

Mr Yee Boon Cheow

The Singapore Engineer (TSE): What were the reasons for the creation of the Technical References (TRs)? Is solving problems faced by Singapore’s rail transport industry their main purpose?

Mr Yee Boon Cheow (YBC): Each stakeholder in our rail transport ecosystem has been operating, based on the individual stakeholder’s established practices and procedures. These TRs will help to pull together the common knowledge and wisdom of the various key stakeholders, in order to establish a common baseline. The TRs have not been created mainly to solve problems.

TSE: What are the objectives of the TRs? Which sectors of the industry are they relevant to and how?

YBC: These TRs are intended to be the base and common language in communications among railway organisations and regulatory bodies. For TR 81 : 2020 (TR 81) Terminology and abbreviations for the Permanent Way, it aims to promote a common understanding in the technical definitions of terms and abbreviations for works related to the Permanent Way. For TR 85 : 2021 (TR 85) Maintenance regime for the Permanent Way, it aims to enable consistency through the provision of requirements and expectations for the maintenance regime for the Permanent Way assets. And for TR 90 : 2021 (TR 90) Maintenance of vehicle gauges for railway, it ensures that users have a common understanding of the definitions of various types of railway vehicle gauges and their purposes, as well as the maintenance management system and processes to be adopted to ensure compliance with the gauges.

TSE: What is the scope of each of the TRs? What specific challenges are addressed by each of them?

YBC: TR 81 covers all works related to the Permanent Way including the trackside environment. The terminology and abbreviations include the collection system installed on the wayside of the track, but excludes the overhead collection system. TR 85 covers all works related to the Permanent Way, excluding the trackside environment and the power rail. Lastly, for TR 90, it covers all code works related to the railway gauges such as the structure gauge, service vehicle load gauge and kinematic envelope. As mentioned earlier, these TRs are not developed just to resolve problems. The bigger picture is to achieve a common understanding and benchmark among stakeholders for the betterment of the railway industry.

TSE: Could you provide some details on the forthcoming webinar on 24 November, that coincides with the launch of these three standards?

YBC: The webinar launch will cover the three aforementioned standards and there will be panel discussions for questions the participants might have. We highly recommend this webinar for anyone who has an interest in the rail industry. The webinar is complimentary with the purchase of these 3 TRs, available via the QR code provided. Further information on the webinar will be sent thereafter. Registration closes 17 November 2021. Mr Yee Boon Cheow is Group Director (Rail Asset, Operations and Maintenance), and Group Director (Rail, Electrical & Mechanical), Land Transport Authority.

TRs FOR THE PERMANENT WAY (RAIL) WEBINAR

WEDNESDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2021 (3 PM - 6 PM)

The webinar will introduce three new TRs related to the Permanent Way (Rail):

TR 81 : 2020 • TR 85 : 2021 • TR 90 : 2021

They aim to promote common understanding and consistency for all works related to the Permanent Way in the rail industry. To register for the webinar, scan the QR code below:

Or visit: https://bit.ly/TRPW_webinar