Standards
What EN 15085-2 Certification Means for Rail Buyers
If you buy welded parts for rail vehicles, sooner or later a drawing or a contract will call for EN 15085-2. Here is what the certification covers, what its levels mean, and what to ask a supplier before you place an order.
The standard in brief
EN 15085 is the European standard series for welding railway vehicles and their components. It has several parts, covering design, production, inspection and documentation. Part 2 sets the quality requirements a welding manufacturer must meet, and how that manufacturer is certified by an independent certification body.
The quality system behind it builds on EN ISO 3834, the general standard for quality in fusion welding. At the highest certification level, the comprehensive requirements of EN ISO 3834-2 apply.
The certification levels
A manufacturer is certified at one of four levels, chosen by the safety relevance of the welds it makes:
- CL1, the highest level, for welding railway vehicles and components that include safety-critical welds, such as car bodies and bogie frames.
- CL2 and CL3, for welding components whose welds fall into lower safety categories.
- CL4, for companies that design, buy or sell welded railway components without welding them themselves.
What sits behind a CL1 certificate
- A responsible welding coordinator with the highest level of technical knowledge, and qualified deputies.
- Welders and welding operators qualified for the processes and materials they use.
- Welding procedures qualified by test before production.
- Inspection, including non-destructive testing, by qualified personnel, with traceable records.
- Regular audits by the certification body to keep the certificate valid.
What to ask a supplier
- A copy of the current certificate. Check the level, the expiry date and the name of the certification body.
- The scope. A certificate lists welding processes, material groups, thickness ranges and product types. Make sure your parts fall inside it.
- The welding coordinator. Ask who it is and what qualification they hold.
- Procedure and welder qualifications that cover your joints and materials.
- The inspection plan, the NDT methods used and the documents that will ship with your parts.
Building for the North American market? Freight cars and locomotives are often welded to AWS D15.1, the railroad welding specification for cars and locomotives. Ask early which standard your program calls for, because it shapes the welding procedures, the qualifications and the paperwork.
How we work to it
The Ultra Corpotech group is certified to EN 15085-2 at level CL1, and to DIN EN ISO 3834-2. It welds main and auxiliary cabins, front and rear end upper frames, headstocks and bogie frames for global transportation companies, national railway and metro projects, and locomotive manufacturers. See our rail and transportation products, or ask us for the certificate and its scope.