Thu, 13 July, 2023
Over the past three years the EN 15085 standard as undergone a staged review, update, and release. The latest, and last, release was EN 15085-1:2023 in June 2023. As a result, TWI Certification Ltd (TWI CL) has been working hard to ensure that our processes, procedures, and scheme document all comply with all new parts of the standard.
We are pleased to announce that the latest version of our scheme document is now available on our website. All new clients will be assessed against the latest scheme document (in accordance with the latest version of the standard), while current certificate holders will be assessed against the new scheme at their next scheduled assessment.
Full details of the changes are in our scheme document (and standard), but to facilitate compliance we have provided a brief overview of some of the main changes below.
Classification Level – Clause 4.1 (Table 1)
Previously known as Certification Levels. Certification Level (CL) 4 has been removed. It is no longer possible to gain certification to CL 4. CL 4 has instead been amalgamated into the other (now) revised Classification Levels, as applicable.
The other Classification Levels have been revised as below
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Classification Level
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Components
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CL 1
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welded vehicles and components / weld-on-parts with high safety relevance
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CL 2
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components / weld-on-parts of railway vehicles with a medium safety relevance (weld joints with high safety relevance acc. to EN 15085-3 are not permitted)
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CL 3
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components / weld-on-parts of railway vehicles with a low safety relevance (weld joints with high and medium safety relevance acc. to EN 15085-3 are not permitted)
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Types of Activities – Clause 4.2 (Table 2)
New activity codes that apply in conjunction with each of the Classification Levels 1, 2, or 3. A manufacturer of welded railway vehicles or components can apply one or multiple activity codes to the scope of the certification.
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Activity Code
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Index
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Description
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Design
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D
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Stress Analysis, Design, and Documentation for manufacturing and maintenance of welded vehicles and components.
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Production
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P
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Producing (manufacturing), Alter and Inspecting / Testing welded vehicles and components (including spare parts).
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Maintenance
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M
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Maintenance (repair) of welded vehicles and components by welding (including inspection & testing)
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Purchase and Supply (sales)
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S
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Purchase and supply of welded components for new production or maintenance activities without executing welding activities
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Responsible Welding Coordinator (rWC)
Several reworks and updates have been made to the expectations for rWC throughout the various parts of the standard. These have primarily addressed an rWCs technical knowledge and competence, and resulted in new bandings as per below (see Annex D).
- Basic knowledge of the subject,
- Application and use of principles and rules,
- Overall mastery of the subject,
- Ability to develop method and procedures.
These bandings are then applied within each area of technical knowledge and per level (A, B, and C).
New Part – EN 15085-6: 2022
A new part was introduced to the EN 15085 standard suite in 2022, called ‘Railway applications – Welding of railway vehicles and components – Part 6: Maintenance welding requirements.’ This ‘defines the quality requirements as well as the design and production requirements for welding to be followed by manufactures during maintenance or maintenance activities on railway vehicles and components’ (Clause 1).
TWI CL is UKAS accredited to provide certification in compliance with EN 15085-6:2022 and warmly welcomes any new or current client to contact us if they wish to add this part of the standard to their current or future certification.
While TWI CL is unable to provide consultancy on the application of the standard we are happy to support our customers and answer any queries they may have regarding the scheme and their application for certification. Contact Us.