As of 1 January 2027, EU Regulation No. 2023/1693 comes fully into force, introducing stricter requirements for the operation and management of railway transport.
Infrastructure managers will be required to ensure that operational documentation is always up to date and readily available, including complete traceability of document versions and changes. They must also ensure the reliable delivery of regulations and operational documents to their employees, while providing verifiable evidence that employees have familiarized themselves with the relevant documentation. The entire document distribution system must support full auditability in the event of an inspection or safety incident.
Failure to comply with the requirements of the new regulatory framework may result in substantial financial penalties, restrictions or revocation of the safety certificate (leading to suspension of operations), and, last but not least, personal liability of statutory representatives (company executives) for breach of their fiduciary duty, including the risk of being held personally liable with their own assets.
What does this mean in day-to-day railway operations, and how does NavRules help you meet the TAF/TAP TSI requirements?
Replace Emails and Paper with a Reliable System
Many railway operators still rely on outdated methods for distributing operational and safety documentation. Some documents are sent by managers via email, others are published on the intranet, while paper forms remain the universal fallback. The situation is often made even more confusing by the absence of a proper role and permission management system. Everything is simply sent to everyone.
Such an approach is inefficient and introduces a number of risks. Employees are overwhelmed with documents and information that are irrelevant to their work. At best, they waste valuable time searching for the information they actually need. At worst, they overlook critical updates altogether.
The problem becomes even more apparent when you need to demonstrate your document management process to an auditor, regulatory authority, or during the investigation of a safety incident.
Send Only What Matters
NavRules allows you to assign different roles to employees and workplaces, and distribute documents based on those roles, workplaces, railway lines, qualifications, authorizations, or even infrastructure types. When distributing documents, you can also specify whether recipients only need to receive the information or whether they are required to actively acknowledge the document and provide a signature.
With NavRules, every employee receives only the documents they actually need based on their role, shift, or workplace. Drivers working in the field also receive an offline package tailored specifically to their assigned route.
Advanced targeting of document distribution ensures that employees are not overwhelmed by irrelevant information and can focus entirely on the regulations that are mandatory and essential for their work.
Version control provides even greater transparency. Every document includes a complete version history, highlighted differences between versions, and concise summaries of changes. Older document versions are automatically blocked, ensuring that only the latest approved versions are used in daily operations.
Clearly Verifiable Employee Acknowledgements
Employee knowledge verification and document acknowledgements are equally transparent. NavRules maintains an audit log that records exactly which employee has read the current version of a document and when. If an acknowledgement is missing, NavRules can automatically send reminders or repeat the document distribution.
If an employee still fails to acknowledge mandatory documents after receiving reminders, the process can be escalated, including the option to prevent the employee from being assigned to a shift.
A Well-Organized System Appreciated by Regulators and Auditors
In the event of an inspection or, even worse, a safety incident, you must be able to provide regulatory authorities and auditors with clear, verifiable evidence of your compliance. A chaotic document management and distribution process will not inspire confidence.
According to the above-mentioned EU Regulation, an audit must clearly demonstrate which employee acknowledged which specific document and exactly when that acknowledgement took place.
NavRules uses forensic audit logs that record who created, modified, approved, read, or signed each document, including precise timestamps. This makes it possible to determine exactly which version of a document was in force on the day of an incident. Detailed reports can be generated instantly for auditors and regulators.
Document distribution, version management, and employee acknowledgements are all fully traceable. NavRules provides clear, verifiable records showing which employee read which document, which version it was, and when the acknowledgement occurred.
Most importantly, however, improved document sharing, better-informed employees, and the intelligent features of NavRules help organizations prevent hazardous situations and safety incidents before they occur.
Betrian Group
Since 2018, the Betrian Group has been focusing on the rail sector in addition to hardware and software development and process digitalization. It is developing the NavSuite ecosystem, which is designed to optimise the planning, monitoring and management of rail traffic. It simplifies complex logistics processes, from planning commodity shipments to managing locomotive maintenance, planning driver shifts and providing real-time navigation support.