Directive (EU) 2016/798 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Article 2 Scope

1. This Directive applies to the rail system in the Member States, which may be broken down into subsystems for structural and functional areas. It covers safety requirements for the system as a whole, including the safe management of infrastructure and of traffic operation and the interaction between railway undertakings, infrastructure managers and other actors in the Union rail system.

2. This Directive shall not apply to:

(a) metros;

(b) trams and light rail vehicles, and infrastructure used exclusively by those vehicles; or

(c) networks that are functionally separate from the rest of the Union rail system and intended only for the operation of local, urban or suburban passenger services, as well as undertakings operating solely on those networks.

3. Member States may exclude from the scope of the measures implementing this Directive:

(a) privately owned railway infrastructure, including sidings, used by the owner or by an operator for the purpose of their respective freight activities or for the transport of persons for non-commercial purposes, and vehicles used exclusively on such infrastructure;

(b) infrastructure and vehicles reserved for strictly local, historical or tourist use;

(c) light rail infrastructure occasionally used by heavy rail vehicles under the operational conditions of the light rail system, where it is necessary for the purposes of connectivity of those vehicles only; and

(d) vehicles primarily used on light rail infrastructure but equipped with some heavy rail components necessary to enable transit to be effected on a confined and limited section of heavy rail infrastructure for connectivity purposes only.

4. Notwithstanding paragraph 2, Member States may decide to apply, where appropriate, provisions of this Directive to metros and other local systems in accordance with national law.