The federal government will publish standard 009-ARTF-2024, Specifications for signals in the circulation of passenger trains, which will represent an expense to Mexican railway companies of three million 283 thousand 920 pesos in order to comply with this new regulation.
“Railway control and signaling systems are essential to ensure the correct operation of trains, as they work together under different conditions and situations, so it is pertinent that they comply with technical parameters that guarantee the quality of service for users, as well as the safe operation of concessionaires and assignees, maintaining the safety standards expected by the ARTF in order to preserve the integrity of all railway personnel,” according to the Railway Transport Regulatory Agency (ARTF) .
The regulatory body stated that this will help to avoid confusion during the driving of trains and thus promote safety in the operation of the Mexican Railway System for the aforementioned service.
He explained that the total cost of this new standard will be due to the acquisition of equipment and signaling technologies of 571 thousand pesos, for the installation and start-up 512 thousand pesos, maintenance (preventive and corrective) and conservation for 31 thousand 416.67 pesos, while for the evaluation of conformity of 567 thousand 504 pesos, for staff training 70 thousand, as well as for the updating of procedures and documentation of 232 thousand pesos and technology and tools for one million 300 thousand.
According to the draft submitted to the National Commission for Regulatory Improvement (Conamer), the benefits of the regulation are greater than the costs, since, regardless of these, failures due to causes associated with railway signals can represent human losses “whose cost is invaluable; therefore, considering this situation, it is more feasible to invest in the implementation and compliance of the proposed regulation than the loss of human lives, material or economic.”
In this regard, he stated that by not issuing a NOM that solves the problem, there would be no standardization of the technical specifications applicable to the train protection system of priority railway projects, which could imply non-compliance with execution times but, in addition and more seriously, it could lead to accidents or incidents as a consequence of not having regulations for the safety, classification and specifications of the track.
This new standard includes provisions and parameters to be applied in terms of safety, to meet the technical specifications for the adoption of the ERTMS/ETCS (European Rail Traffic Management System/European Train Control System) train protection system, to ensure the safety of train traffic that is currently being developed in order to reduce accidents and incidents.
He recalled that the number of accidents directly related to the object of regulation, which occurred in the Mexican Railway System, correspond to 379 events on average annually , between 2019 and 2023. Which had an average weighted unit cost per accident of 25 million 49 thousand 712 pesos per accident.
“The effects of this alternative imply a reduction of up to 9% in the number of accidents that could occur within a five-year horizon, mitigating the risk of events related to railway operations that could occur in the country,” he said.
The ARTF reiterated that the cost of accidents attributable to defects in the railway infrastructure is estimated at nine thousand 488 million 830 thousand 920 pesos, while with the implementation of the regulation it would be eight thousand 539 million 947 thousand 828 pesos.
He clarified that the National Advisory Committee for Railway Transport Standardization (CCNN-TF), in which interested private sectors participate, approved the Draft Mexican Official Standard PROY-NOM-009-ARTF-2024, Specifications for signals in the circulation of passenger trains, in its Third Extraordinary Session held on March 26.
Comment and follow us on X: @evandeltoro / @GrupoT21
