Railway Vehicle Welding EN 15085 Certification

EN 15085 Certification Introduction

EN 15085 is a unified welding certification system for railway vehicles and components, widely applied in the rail transit industry. Officially implemented in April 2008, it has gradually replaced the German DIN 6700 series and become the authoritative standard in this sector. EN 15085 specifies standardized and detailed requirements for enterprise welding quality, qualifications of welding supervisors and welders, structural design, production process control and product inspection.

The current updated version is EN 15085:2020, which took effect in April 2021 with a 3-year transition period.

EN 15085 defines welding quality requirements for railway vehicles and related parts, consisting of six parts:

01
EN 15085-1: General requirements
02
EN 15085-2: Quality requirements and qualification of welding manufacturers
03
EN 15085-3: Design requirements
04
EN 15085-4: Production requirements
05
EN 15085-5: Inspection, testing and documentation
06
EN 15085-6: Maintenance

EN 15085 Certification Levels & Requirements

Certification Level	Weld Quality Class	Quality Requirements
CL1	All classes	EN ISO 3834-2 / EN ISO 14554-1
CL2	CP B2, CP C2, CP C3, CP D	EN ISO 3834-3 / EN ISO 14554-2
CL3	Low-safety CP C2, CP C3 and CP D	EN ISO 3834-4 / EN ISO 14554-2

The revised EN 15085-2:2020 establishes three Classification Levels (CL) for manufacturers and welded components, divided according to the safety relevance of welded parts specified in Chapter 3.1. The latest EN 15085-6 regarding maintenance welding requirements is currently under public consultation, covering classification level rules for railway vehicle maintenance workshops.

CL4 has been cancelled. The valid classification levels are CL1–CL3, classified by safety relevance: high (CL1), medium (CL2) and low (CL3). Each manufactured component will be assigned a corresponding level.

- CL1: High safety relevance for railway vehicles and critical welded components

- CL2: Medium safety relevance (excluding high-risk welded joints)

- CL3: Low safety relevance (excluding high and medium-risk welded joints)

Manufacturer Activity Types

Based on business scope, EN 15085-2:2020 divides manufacturer activities into four types: Design (D), Production (P), Maintenance (M), Procurement and Supply (S). Welding manufacturers can undertake one or multiple activity types.

Welding Manufacturer Scale (WM)

The new standard introduces the concept of "Size of welding manufacturer (WM)". The scale is calculated by formula: WM = a·b·c·d·e·f. Manufacturers with WM ≤ 1500 are defined as small-scale welding manufacturers.

a) Total quantity of welders and welding operators (minimum factor = 1)

b) Activity type: P and/or M only = 1; P/M plus D and/or S = 2

c) Types of welding materials: carbon steel, stainless steel, non-ferrous metals (factor 1–3)

d) Daily working shifts: ≤ 2 shifts = 1; more than 2 shifts = 2

e) Quantity of welding processes (EN ISO 4063 two-digit code, minimum factor = 1)

f) Component classification factor: CL1=10, CL2=5, CL3=1

Welding Coordinator

In accordance with ISO 14731, welding coordinators shall have independent authority to perform all duties required by ISO 14731 and EN 15085. They must have management authority and make decisions independent of production pressure.

Weld Quality Class

1. Designers determine weld quality class through calculation based on load condition and safety requirements.

2. Weld quality class defines defect limits and inspection levels. Visual testing (VT) is mandatory for all welds. Details are shown in EN 15085-3 Table 4.

3. All weld inspections shall be guided and supervised by the responsible welding coordinator.

Welding Personnel Qualification

Welders and welding operators shall be certified according to ISO 9606 or ISO 14732, with a validity period of 2, 3 or 6 years. Inspectors shall hold qualified certification and work under the management of welding coordinators. All personnel assessments shall be conducted by the responsible welding supervisor.