The TAF and TAP RU/IM Joint Sector Group (JSG) was set up in October 2012 as a voluntary organisation and is now supported by 14 European Associations involved in the implementation of the Technical Specification for Interoperability relating to the subsystem ‘Telematics Applications for Freight services’ (TAF TSI) of the of the rail system in the European Union.

Starting January 2014, the JSG in collaboration with the project team dedicated to the implementation of the ‘Telematics Applications for Passenger services’ (TAP TSI), has included the technical management of the common part of the two specifications (Railway Undertaking/Infrastructure Manager IT communications).

In order to effectively implement the Regulation about telematics applications, an efficient sector-driven organisation is required to be in place specifically to harmonise and coordinate the work-plans of the sector and work to agree a common sector position towards European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) and Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE) whenever required.

The main tasks of the JSG are:

  • To prepare and present the rail sector positions to the TAF/TAP Steering Committee.
  • The coordinated management of the rail sector change requests (CRs) of the TAF IT specifications at the Change Control Management (CCM) Working Party for TAF/TAP RU/IM communication TSI managed by the European Union Agency for Railways.
  • To support the assessment process of the TAF TSI Implementation managed by the European Railway Agency.