Sidings, local and special railways, tramway and trolleybus systems and heritage vehicles

Vehicles to be operated exclusively on local or special (metro) railways or within sidings, on tramway or trolleybus systems, or heritage vehicles operated on national and regional railways, and changes to their design introducing a substantial deviation from the authorised vehicle type, are authorised by the Rail Authority in accordance with national legislation.

These vehicles do not have to meet the requirements of the TSIs, but must comply with national legislation, in particular:

- Act No. 266/1994 Coll., the Railways Act,

- Decree No 173/1995 Coll., the Transport Code for Railways and Other Guided Transport Systems,

- Decree No. 100/1995 Sb., the Specified Technical Installations and Equipment Code.

Applications for a vehicle type authorisation pursuant to Section 43c of the Railways Act, as well as applications for the authorisation of design changes introducing a substantial deviation from the authorised vehicle type pursuant to Section 43d of the Railways Act, are submitted to the Rail Authority.

Authorizations of vehicles in conformity to an already authorised type are subject to fixed rates depending on the type of the vehicle. The rates are regulated by Act No 634/2004 Coll., the Administrative Fees Act, item 59.

The conditions for conducting trial runs are specified in Section 43e of the Railways Act.

Trial runs are made:

• before authorising a new vehicle type;
• before authorising a change which is considered to introduce a deviation from the authorised type.

If a vehicle stopped being manufactured more than 40 years ago and its external appearance and internal layout are preserved and maintained in the condition corresponding to the original technical file, the Rail Authority may decide, based on the vehicle owner´s application, that the vehicle is a heritage vehicle.

Application annexes:

• the vehicle worthiness certificate, if it was issued,
• the technical description and graphic documentation of the existing design of the vehicle, and
• if preserved, the original technical file of the vehicle or any other document proving the original design of the vehicle.

A heritage vehicle may be operated on national or regional railway infrastructure if:

• it is entered in the register of railway vehicles or an equivalent register of another Member State or in the European Vehicle Register²⁰),
• it is technically compatible with the route in accordance with the technical specification for interoperability and with the data contained in the register of railway infrastructure according to the directly applicable European Union regulation on the common specifications for the register of railway infrastructure²⁷), and
• in the case of coupling with another vehicle, the coupling is made safely in accordance with the technical specification for interoperability and the rail safety management system.

A heritage vehicle may be operated on a national, regional or local railway infrastructure, on a tramway, trolleybus or special rail system or within a siding solely to satisfy cultural or leisure needs.