Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

To jointly contribute to the improvement and enhancement of overall competitiveness of the European railway sector, the Round Table Rail (RTR) Initiative has the aim to improve the way of working between railway operators and rolling stock suppliers in the procurement of rolling stock and to significantly reduce overall efforts by establishing a product-driven instead of project-driven approach.

Goal of the overall Initiative is an improvement in the way of working between the railway operator and industry partner in the course of rolling stock procurement efforts by also considering the following targets:

• Decreasing lead times and on-time delivery
• More simplified rolling stock process
• Reduced customization effort
• Lower Total Cost of Ownership
• Increased product maturity
• Promoting sustainability

The product-driven approach considers the active involvement of the operator in the development process of new products by the manufacturer outside the jointly defined processes. In general, the currently applied “project business” should move to a “product business” with the guiding principle, that the “Industry develops products and operators buy them”-logic. Furthermore, a modularization and a standard description of specification catalogues in the procurement process can be established.

With the help of the RTR Initiative, operators individually and separately may realize the following benefits:

• Creation of voluntary requirements for procurement processes: May allow the individual operator to reduce its TCO on all possible hierarchical levels of the vehicle setup.
• Modularization: Standard Modules are common in different comparable industries and have a strong potential to reduce effort and cost on both sides, from a customer’s and supplier’s perspective.
• Flexibility – shorter lead times: The shorter the product lead times the higher the flexibility of the operator to react on customer needs, assuring a better product fit.
• Innovations: We understand innovation as a process that gradually improves the customer value of a certain product between a manufacturer and an operator. It is a process that is embedded in the regular and individual development process.

With the help of the RTR Initiative, manufactures individually and separately may realize the following benefits:

• Reduction of additional Customization Cost: With a modularization strategy and standardized procurement process the cost for engineering & customization may significantly drop.
• Improvement of Product Competitiveness: With shorter lead times and a more reliable product the product competitiveness increases and potentially opens new opportunities for the industry.
• Reduction of Tender Costs/ Penalties: Due to a simplified and standardized tendering process the affiliated tendering costs may drop.
• Reduction of Risks: Quality costs like warranties, etc. may drop significantly due to more reliable products.

With the help of the RTR Initiative, the following benefits may potentially occur on end-customer side:

• Customers’ needs are met more easily, since operator can quickly react on occurring changes (e.g., by shorter lead times).
• As innovation will not be hindered but rather fostered, new developments will incrementally be adapted to customers’ needs.
• Since the Initiative fosters a close collaboration between operator and supplier, feedback on various aspects of rolling stock can be generated, shared between operator and supplier, and used for further development efforts, which meet the expectations of the final customer in a high degree.

The Initiative is based on a long-term vision and targeting on the optimization of four distinct dimensions:

• Specification Catalogue: Description of overall (voluntarily applicable) requirement structure based on commonly applied market practice in procurement of rolling stock.
• Total-Cost-of-Ownership Structure: Development of a generic description of a possible evaluation structure to allow the individual operator to assess products’ lifecycle costs from a total-cost-of-ownership perspective.
• Product Development & Procurement Process: Develop mutually aligned process model for product development and procurement of rolling stock, individually between the operator and the supplier by putting a special focus on the tender independent Market Observation Phase.
• Maturity Model: Development of a maturity model including quality gates for each maturity level and provision of descriptions and requirements to proof evidence for each phase which may be voluntarily applied by the operator in procurement of rolling stock.
• Sustainability: Development of voluntary generic CO2 footprint structures and/or measurement tools for rolling stock, with an initial gathering of existing norms, standards and rolling stock specific approaches, followed by a legal and economic feasibility assessment, aiming to enhance the sector’s sustainability understanding and practices.

The Initiative aims to create a more harmonized description of requirements framework that – if applied in the industry – may reduce overall lead times within future tenders.

Yes! Operators of course retain the possibility for customization within a tender.

The Initiative aimed to create a common conceptual structure for the topic of Total Cost of Ownership, which considers in a generic manner (no values/ weighting of items, etc.) all total cost items throughout the ownership and/ or lifecycle of an asset. The structure represents an overview of relevant (generic) cost items for a rolling stock, which will need to get further amended and detailed with relevant company and/ or tender-specific numbers/ values/ weighting factors, etc. by any buyer/ operator for any tender.

The aim of RTR is to lay the ground for as many activities between operator and supplier as necessary with regard to planned development efforts, certain requirements, or tender information as early as possible. In the so-called Market Observation Phase, operator and supplier can informally share and exchange information about ongoing activities or arising requirements, in compliance with competition law rules. With the help of certain Cooperation Formats (e.g., RTR Conference) or developed documents (e.g., Supplier Product Description) a continuous bilateral exchange is enabled on a regular basis between customer and supplier.

RTR aims to create a comprehensive maturity model framework as a basis to simplify future rolling stock tender procedures. Thereby, maturity degrees of rolling stock shall be transparently structured to identify and communicate risks during the procurement of rolling stock.

All relevant information about recent RTR developments and associated activities can be found on the RTR website. All interested parties may have access to application guidelines, which provide an overview of developed results and their respective application.

A general and voluntary integration concept is included within the implementation and change management concept, which deals with the following topics:

• Implementation Handbook – How to implement results?
• Sustainability Approach – How to ensure a continuous development?
• Communication Guideline – How to ensure a proper internal communication?

However, the concept only provides certain recommendation, and the final implementation as well as the degree of implementation of developments is the responsibility of each organization itself.

The RTR Initiative has set-up an Anti-Trust Council that accompanied its work. Furthermore, the Initiative has counselled an external competition law counsel to assess concept and individual work streams. The contents of RTR do not influence existing EU Public Procurement laws but rather take them into account.

There were nine companies initially participating in the RTR Initiative, consisting of both operators and suppliers:

• Alstom Transport Deutschland GmbH
• Bombardier Transportation
• Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF)
• Deutsche Bahn AG
• Nederlandse Spoorwegen Groep B.V.
• Schweizerische Bundesbahnen AG (SBB)
• Siemens Mobility GmbH
• Société nationale des chemins de fer belges (SNCB)
• Stadler Rail Management AG

Working groups consisting of members of each company develop results across the defined content dimensions. Any adjustment or introduction of potential new items are a priori assessed by the Antitrust-Council, outside competition counsel and need a formal approval by the Steering Committee, that both again consist of members of each participating party.

In general, the RTR Initiative is open to every stakeholder in the railway industry. Every organization which is willing to participate can join upon approval decision of current members.

Further information on how to join RTR can be found on the dedicated section of this website.

Additional information can be found on the website or by contacting us directly at:
contact-rtr@horvath-partners.com.

You may contact contact-rtr@horvath-partners.com for any further information.