Identification marking for passenger rolling stock

Summary

Rolling stock numbers are essential data for the railway system. They enable a vehicle to be identified unambiguously and constitute a common language for Railway Undertakings (RUs), infrastructure managers and the authorities competent in each state for:

vehicle certification and registration; monitoring the characteristics of the vehicle; monitoring the vehicle in operation; managing maintenance; handover and acceptance of vehicles between RUs; accounting and financial operations.

Hitherto the code of the owning railway (or the registering railway in the case of privately-owned vehicles) has occupied the third and fourth position of the vehicle number. Owing to the restructuring of the railways in numerous countries, that code has been converted into a country code to bring it in line with the new context. Thus:

an RU does not depend on another RU for the registration of its vehicles; a vehicle keeper can freely choose a RU to provide a transport service.

This leaflet describes the structure of the number borne by hauled passenger stock, and the marking used for the identification of a vehicle. Using the concept of a country code and abbreviations to identify the country in which the vehicle is registered and to identify the vehicle keeper, the resulting numbering system is transparent and in tune with developments in the railway world.