Industry lines are rail lines which are not part of the public rail network. Facing or trailing (i.e. diverging or converging) turnouts of an industry line and the entire branching point are maintained by the Infrastructure Manager on behalf of the industry line owner. The cost of installing, maintaining and removing an industry line’s branching point and the associated safety equipment and other costs associated with the branching point are borne by the industry line owner or by the Infrastructure Manager.
If an industry branch line is discontinued, the cost of restoring normal conditions of travel is borne by the Infrastructure Manager or by the owner of the industry line.
The owner or operator of an industry line and the Infrastructure Manager enter into a contract to define their relationship with respect to the installation, maintenance and discontinuance of an industry branch line.
Pursuant to the provisions of the Railway Transport Safety Act ZVZelP (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia No 30/2018 and No 54/2021), each industry line must have its own working rules which set forth the procedures and obligations of the industry line owner and its collaboration with the Infrastructure Manager and/or RUs which run trains on the industry line.
Fulfilling the requirements and procedures that are essential to ensure the safe operation of railway traffic on industrial tracks in connection with the public railway infrastructure (hereinafter:JŽI) is defined in ˝925-DN41 Delovno navodilo o zagotovitvi varnega obratovanja železniškega prometa na industrijskih tirih v povezavi z JŽI˝. The aformentioned work instructions define the procedures and obligations of the owner or operator of the industrial track (hereinafter:the JŽIoperator), including the issuance of consent and procedures for confirming the contents of the Rules of Procedure on the industrial track(in below;riles of procedure), which must be drawn up in accordance with the requirements of the railway Safety Act and the Traffic Regulations, as well as cooperation with the carrier in the use or supplying the industrial track.
Industry line working rules are produced by the owner or the operator of the line, and must contain, at minimum, the following chapters:
- General provisions;
- Description of track and trackside equipment;
- Organising of shunting work;
- Maintenance of the industry line and its equipment and monitoring of track condition;
- Disruptive events on the industry line;
- Final provisions;
- Annexes (industry line layouts and other specific instructions);
- Medical fitness and competence of operations staff in charge of safety-critical tasks on the industry line.
Shunting movements of rolling stock between the industry line and public rail infrastructure must obtain, pursuant to Article 92 of the Railway Transport Safety Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia No 30/2018 and No 54/2021), consent of the Infrastructure Manager for the section of the working rules regarding public rail infrastructure.
Where shunting movements from the industry line to public rail network are carried out by the industry line’s operations staff with own shunting vehicles, the Infrastructure Manager shall determine, through its safety management system, the conditions of such movement and the part of public rail infrastructure where such movements may be conducted so as to ensure safety of traffic on the railway.
