With the revision of the Directive on Railway Safety in Europe, the EU introduced the term "Entity in Charge of Maintenance" in 2008. This "Entity in Charge of Maintenance" must ensure that all wagons assigned to it in the national vehicle registers are serviced in accordance with the regulations in force.
GATX will be the Entity in Charge of Maintenance (ECM) for all wagons of that GATX is either the holder and/or the owner.
Furthermore, the Directive specifies that the Entities in Charge of Maintenance of freight wagons must be certified by the responsible authorities by the end of 2012. Certification in this regard, which is indispensible for wagon holders if these act as ECM for their own fleet, is done by the national safety authorities or designated departments.
Since quick action was necessary already in 2010 due to the legal situation in some member states, the supervisory authorities have recommended immediate self certification for ECM by the following self declaration published on the Homepage of the European Railway Agency (ERA).
GATX has already completed its work for the certification and issued the following “self declaration for Entity in Charge of Maintenance” in the meantime, which is as well publicly available on the homepage
http://www.era.europa.eu/Core-Activities/Safety/Pages/maintenance.aspx of ERA (European Rail Agency). Thus it will be ensured to continue operating all wagons of GATX Rail Europe even after 01.01.2011 European-wide.
To fulfil the requirements specified by the new regulations, we as the holder and ECM of our wagons require the assistance of the customers. In future, it will be highly important for the maintenance to record and monitor the operating conditions of the wagons.
