EN 15663:2009

Railway applications - Definition of vehicle reference masses

Publication date:   Aug 21, 2009

Scope

The purpose of this document is to define a set of reference masses that can be used as a common starting
point for specifying the requirements for the design, testing, delivery acceptance, marking and operation of rail
vehicles. It is not the intention of this European Standard to change the dimensioning of vehicle system
components by the definition of these common reference masses. However, when the relevant standards are
revised or new ones developed, the masses to be used in these vehicle system component standards as the
basis for the design should be expressed as a function of the reference mass states defined in this standard.
Until the standards are changed the existing criteria continue to apply.
This document covers all types of rail vehicles.
For the purpose of vehicle mass definitions rolling stock is divided into three vehicle groups which are:
 high speed and other long distance trains;
 passenger vehicles other than high speed and long distance trains, including metro and tramway;
 freight vehicles (wagons and freight motored units).
Locomotives are treated as passenger vehicles without payload.
The specification of the technical requirements of the railway vehicle should contain the information to which
vehicle group it belongs.
NOTE “Long distance” includes all passenger trains not intended to be used on commuter and suburban services. In
this standard, commuter is understood as: for the French network: RER; for the German network: S-Bahn.
The masses defined in this European Standard are as follows (see Clause 2):
a) dead mass;
b) design mass;
1) design mass, in working order;
2) design mass under normal payload;
3) design mass under exceptional payload;
c) operational mass;
1) operational mass, in working order;
2) operational mass under normal payload.
These masses are defined with respect to the whole vehicle, but they can also apply to a specific system or
component.

Related legislation

Legislation related to this standard