Railway safety

The Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency applies a railway safety management system, which determines how the agency as the manager of the rail network secures the safety of the operating environment for which it is responsible. The system covers all the sub-areas of railway safety: train safety, track work safety, level crossing safety, traffic control safety and system security. The Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency has been granted a safety license by Traficom, which also monitors the Agency’s operations on a regular basis.

Railway safety is governed by many national and EU regulations. The Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency is involved in drafting the regulations, providing Finland’s views on railway safety. In Finland, the drafting of railway regulations is the responsibility of Traficom, while the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency is responsible for providing more detailed operational and safety guidelines for the state-owned rail network. Link to the list of guidelines (in Finnish).

Continuous monitoring and co-operation

The Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency is constantly monitoring the state of railway safety. All incidents and accidents are recorded in a database, and the information is used to perform safety analyses. Separate safety reports are made on an annual basis about serious or recurring events. The results of the safety reports and analyses are used in the development of the operations, practices and guidelines of the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency, and by the railway sector as a whole.

The Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency co-operates widely with various stakeholders (e.g. rail transport operators) and service providers (e.g. contractors, maintenance contractors) when carrying out safety work and safety analyses. The goal is to ensure that the railway sector as a whole works together to improve safety. We also work in close co-operation with Traficom and the Safety Investigation Authority.

More information on safety statistics and safety analyses is available from annual reports (in Finnish).

Key measures are determined in a year-plan

The Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency annually draws up a railway safety year-plan for determining the key measures for ensuring and increasing safety. The targets of the measures include, for example, the maintenance and construction of the track, and the related equipment, for which the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency is responsible, as well as the development of instructions and operating practices. Safety at work is also taken into account in railway safety work, as well as road and maritime transport, for the purpose of benefiting from mutual synergies.

In addition to safety work, the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency is prepared to deal with accidents and other disruptions. Separate guidelines are provided by the Agency for such events. The Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency organises its own training sessions, and also participates in accident trainings concerning the railway environment organised by other actors.