In accordance with the requirements arising from both national and EU regulations, each Member State is obliged to establish and implement a computer-based railway vehicle register, referred to as the National Vehicle Register (NVR). The common EU requirements regarding the keeping of national railway vehicle registers are stipulated in Commission Decision 2007/756/EC of 9 November 2007 adopting a common specification of the national vehicle register provided for under Article 14(4) and Article 14(5) of Directives 96/48/EC and 2001/16/EC, and subsequently amended by Commission Decision 2011/107/EC of 10 February 2011 amending Commission Decision 2007/756/EC adopting a common specification of the national vehicle register. The provisions regarding this matter were further specified in the Regulation of the Minister of Transport, Construction and Maritime Economy of 6 September 2012 on the national railway vehicle register (Journal of Laws of 2012, item 1063).
The national railway vehicle register provides information on
- the vehicle owner;
- the vehicle keeper;
- the entity in charge of vehicle maintenance;
- the obtained authorisations for placing in service;
- the limitations on vehicle use;
- the EC declaration of verification;
- the year of manufacture.
The national vehicle registers are established with a view to providing access to key information regarding railway vehicles operated in various countries. The registration obligation applies to all railway vehicles, except:
- underground vehicles;
- railway vehicles moving only along side-tracks;
- railway vehicles with a track width of less than 1435 mm;
- historic vehicles used only as immovable exhibits;
- special vehicles moving only along closed tracks or transported by other vehicles;
- railway vehicles moving only on those railway networks which have been separated, in functional terms, from the railway system, and dedicated to local, urban or suburban passenger transport;
- railway vehicles moving only on railway infrastructure owned by private infrastructure managers, for their own purposes and as part of their own activities in the field of freight transport;
- railway vehicles moving only on railway infrastructure dedicated to local, tourist or historic use;
- historic vehicles not moving on railway networks.
In principle, vehicles are entered into the register of the country in which they were originally authorised for placing in service. Additional authorisations in other countries are recorded in the register of the country in which the original entry was made.
In Poland, vehicle keepers are the only entities authorised to submit applications for railway vehicle registration. The keepers who wish to make an original vehicle entry in the register must first apply for the so-called Vehicle Keeper Marking (VKM).
Moreover, under the Regulation of the Minister of Transport, Construction and Maritime Economy of 3 January 2013 on the method for keeping the register and the method for marking railway vehicles (Journal of Laws of 2013, item 211), each vehicle keeper or user shall keep its own railway vehicle register, the template of which is provided in the annexes to the regulation.
The information contained on this website refers only to the national railway vehicle register kept by the President of UTK.