Mosolf Automotive Railway has obtained permission to manage the maintenance of its fleet of wagons by itself.
The subsidiary of the Mosolf Group, responsible for rail business, has been granted the ECM safety certificate (entity in charge of maintenance), in line with EU Regulation 445/2011. The regulation stipulates that for each freight wagon, a company must be designated as responsible for its maintenance. In the past, freight wagons were assigned to a national railway company, which was responsible for maintenance, but now, each wagon operator can independently decide which company will provide the ‘traction’.
Previously, the ECM functions were based on a memorandum of understanding for operators in the EU, but this expired on May 31st, 2015. “The in-house maintenance is primarily an issue of safety for MAR. However, economic factors have also encouraged us to undertake this responsibility ourselves. As we are monitoring our fleet on-time and directly, we can perform the management of maintenance and repair without delay – which means in most cases before any damage occurs. With the high mileage run up by our wagons this is essential to offer our customers high-quality and reliable services at all times,” says Wolgang Göbel, managing director, Mosolf Automotive Railway.
Allowing Mosolf to manage the upkeep in-house will also make it possible to introduce any improvements on the wagons quickly.
Currently, MAR operates a fleet of around 500 railway wagons, with plans to expand business in the coming years. The fleet comprises a standard type of wagon for transporting vehicles, making the maintenance process much easier from a technical perspective. The company also almost exclusively operates its wagons in block trains all over Europe.
Regulation 445/2011 comprises four functions: management, maintenance development, managing maintenance, and maintenance provision. MAR is currently handling three of these functions itself, and outsourcing its maintenance provision.
The procedure to receive permission lasted several months, with MAR having to define the processes and steps for fulfilling its function as an ECM. The certificate is valid for five years, with yearly monitoring audits. “Obtaining the ECM safety certificate is a confirmation of our company policy, which has been aiming at establishing quality as a core element in our business model for a long time,” Göbel said.
