What is TS EN 15085 Certificate?
The EN 15085 standard is a European standard that replaces the DIN 6700 standard series designed for organizations operating in the railway sector.
Two German railway companies carried out a standardization study on their activities in 1945 and published them as DV 952 and DS 952 standards. These standards, which were in force until 1997, were adopted the DIN 6700 standard on that date and were valid until 2008. In 2008, this standard changed its name as EN 15085 again and its scope was expanded and became a accepted standard in Europe. After the publication of this standard, national standards such as DIN or BS, which contradict the new standard, were withdrawn.
TS EN ISO 15085 Railway Vehicles and Components Management System consists of a set of standards and covers general requirements for the resources of railway vehicles and equipment. This set of standards is the visa requirement of enterprises producing vehicles and equipment in the railway sector in international markets.
The standards that make up the TS EN ISO 15085 system are as follows:
- TS EN 15085-1 Railway applications - Welding of railway vehicles and components - Part 1: General
- TS EN 15085-2 ... Section 2: Quality specifications and certification of welding manufacturers
- TS EN 15085-3 ... Section 3: Design features
- TS EN 15085-4 ... Section 4: Manufacturing requirements
- TS EN 15085-5 ... Section 5: Inspection, testing and documentation
Certification of Railway Vehicles and Components Management System is carried out according to TS EN 15085-2 standard. The enterprises producing welded parts of railway vehicles and parts may obtain TS EN 15085 certificate. Since this standard is accepted in our country and around the world, TS EN 15085 certificate is a mandatory document especially for the manufacturers providing railway vehicles and equipment for the European Union.
How is Classification for TS EN 15085 Certified?
The fourth part of the TS EN 15085 standard includes certification levels. These levels depend on the weld performance class of welded joints (CP). The certification level must be determined in accordance with the TS EN 15085-2 standard before the certification works begin. There are four different certification levels according to the standard:
- The CL1 level is for enterprises producing rail vehicles and equipment with weld performance class A to D of welded joints.
- The CL2 level is for enterprises producing rail vehicles equipment from C2 to D, the welding performance class of welded joints.
- The CL3 level is for enterprises producing railway vehicles equipment with weld performance class D of welded joints.
- The CL4 level is for purchasing or selling businesses that design railway vehicles.
According to TS EN 15085 standard, welding performance classes are determined as follows:
- The CP class A is only for fully penetrating and easily accessible welds during production and maintenance work.
- The CP B1 class is a high safety category and is only for fully penetrating and easily accessible welds in production and maintenance work.
- The CP B2 class is a medium safety category and is applied outside of full penetration welds and volumetric testing. Surface crack testing should be possible during production and maintenance work.
- The CP C1 class is applied out of the possibility of fully penetrating welds and volumetric testing. Surface crack testing should be possible during production and maintenance work.
- CP C2, C3 and D grades are applied to all types of welding without special requirements. Only visual control is sufficient in production operations.
What are the requirements for TS EN 15085 Certification?
The requirements for welded production facilities for certification levels are given in the fifth part and annexes of EN 15085-2 standard.
The first requirement is quality requirements. According to the standard, enterprises must prove that they comply with the requirements of EN ISO 3834-2, EN ISO 3834-3 and EN ISO 3834-4 standards.
The second requirement is personnel requirements. The number of resource coordinators in the enterprise should be determined depending on the size, capacity, production prevalence and number of subcontractors. In addition, the duties and powers of the resource coordinators must comply with the standard. Coordinators should be shown in the organization chart and approved by the certification body. In addition, resource coordinators should have their own decision-making power. In the meantime, if the resource coordinator is not an employee of the enterprise, the conditions stipulated in the standard must be followed. There must be at least two welders in the plant for each welding process in accordance with the applicable standards for the material group, connection type and size. The company must also have inspection personnel.
The third requirement is equipment requirements. In the enterprise, the work area must be of the size and quality to ensure that the welding work is accurate, reliable and of high quality and that it performs continuously.
Another requirement is welding procedure specifications. According to EN 15085-2 standard, in operation, all welding performance classes from CP A to CP C3 must have Welding Procedure Specification (WPS) under TS EN ISO 15607 standard (TS EN ISO 15607 Welding procedure specification and qualification for metallic materials) - General rules).
The aim of TS EN 15085 certification is to ensure the quality level of the production facilities of the railway vehicles and components. The enterprises that have this certificate have proved their works on the following issues both in obtaining the certificate and in the three-year validity period each year during the interim audits:
- Weld processes comply with relevant welding method approvals and welding specifications (WPS)
- Certified in accordance with the qualifications of the welding personnel
- Performing the welding works in accordance with the related documents such as welding sequence plan and welding control plan and in a controlled manner
- A welding engineer in charge of the company to act as a welding coordinator and be able to make decisions independently of production
- Determining the source performance class with the data from the design
