National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of EN 16683:2025. It supersedes BS EN 16683:2015, which is withdrawn.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee RAE/4/-/1, Railway applications - Braking.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its committee manager.

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 31 January 2026.

This European Standard was approved by CEN on 26 October 2025.

CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN member.

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and United Kingdom.

European foreword

This document (EN 16683:2025) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 256 “Railway applications”, the secretariat of which is held by DIN.

This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by June 2026, and conflicting national standards shall be withdrawn at the latest by June 2026.

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

This document supersedes EN 16683:2015.

In comparison with the previous edition EN 16683:2015, the following technical modifications have been made:

the scope has been updated and explicitly does not cover urban rail;
the normative references have been updated;
Clause 3 (Terms, definitions and abbreviations) has been updated;
the CFA (Clause 4) description and requirements have been reviewed to remove ambiguities;
a new subclause 4.11 on CFAD passenger interface design requirements was added;
subclause 5.5 is now Clause 6 and has been slightly rephrased;
Annex C has been rewritten;
Annex D has been added;
Annex ZA has been removed.

Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CEN website.

According to the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organisations of the following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.

1 Scope

This document covers heavy rail rolling stock.

This document does not cover urban rail rolling stock.

NOTE 1 EN 17355 covers communication device requirements for urban rail rolling stock.

This document specifies:

the functional requirements for a call for aid system and communication device system;
the dynamic analysis of the call for aid system.

NOTE 2 “Dynamic analysis” is understood here as a sequence of actions.

NOTE 3 In a formation of vehicles where one complies with this document with one that does not, it is possible that the call for aid system is not fully functional.

NOTE 4 The call for aid system function is separate from the Passenger Alarm System (PAS) function, which is provided to deal with emergency situations. The PAS is described in EN 16334‑1:2014+A1:2022.

NOTE 5 The communication device system can be different from the PAS, but it can share some or all parts of the PAS to achieve its functionalities.

NOTE 6 The PAS is regarded as a safety relevant system whereas the CFA system and communication device system are non-safety relevant aids to passengers.

2 Normative references

3 Terms, definitions and abbreviations

3.1 Terms and definitions

3.2 Abbreviations

4 CFA

4.1 CFA system elements overview

4.2 CFA general requirements

4.3 Basic CFA system

4.4 Isolation of CFA system elements

4.5 CFAD operation requirements

4.6 CFAD operation in sleeping coach

4.7 Locating operated CFAD

4.8 Acknowledgements and feedback

4.9 CFAD reset

4.10 Dynamic analysis of the CFA function

4.11 CFAD interface design requirements

5 Communication device

5.1 Introduction

5.2 General requirements

5.3 Communication device interface design requirements

5.4 Communication within a sleeping coach

6 Communication priority requirements

Bibliography

BS EN 16683:2025

Railway applications. Call for aid and communication device. Requirements for heavy rail vehicles

Current

Published:

31 Jan 2026