Emission control of diesel engines (IRS 60624)
Heightened environmental awareness in the late 1980’s inspired the railways to deal with the exhaust gas emission behaviour of engines used for railway traction and to define future limits for the generation of pollutants.
In a time of increased environmental awareness, the railways do not want to lose their reputation as an environmentally-friendly mode of transport. Compliance with ever-decreasing exhaust gas emission limits is increasingly significant for railway vehicles driven by combustion engines.
To avoid the necessity to perform a full approval procedure against the series Leaflet 623 to demonstrate an engine’s capability to comply with emission limits, a separate Leaflet (624) was created in 2000 containing only a control procedure of the pollutant emission of the engine together with the determination of the power and torque curves and fuel consumption. This Leaflet was mandatory for all engines to be used as traction engines in new rolling stock or as a replacement in existing vehicles.
UIC SET_12 “Diesel engines” ensures the supervision of the entire test procedure and the issue of the relevant test report.
In September 2019, according to UIC strategy, UIC Leaflet 624 (5th edition dated February 2017) was migrated, without any changes, into IRS 60624.
Appendix F of IRS 60624 lists diesel engines which have successfully passed the UIC emission test procedure.
Diesel engines which have already successfully passed the UIC test procedure according to UIC Leaflets 624 before the publication of IRS 60624 are still part of the list.