National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of EN 12299:2024+A1:2026. It supersedes BS EN 12299:2024, which is withdrawn.

The start and finish of text introduced or altered by amendment is indicated in the text by tags. Tags indicating changes to CEN text carry the number of the CEN amendment. For example, text altered by CEN amendment A1 is indicated by .

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee RAE/1/-/5, Railway Applications - Ride comfort.

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 October 2024.

This European Standard was approved by CEN on 5 August 2024 and includes Amendment 1 approved by CEN on 17 August 2026.

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 12299:2024+A1:2026) 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 April 2027, and conflicting national standards shall be withdrawn at the latest by April 2027.

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 12299:2024.

This European Standard was approved by CEN on 5 August 2024 and includes Amendment 1 approved by CEN on 17 August 2026.

The start and finish of text introduced or altered by amendment is indicated in the text by tags .

EN 12299:2024 includes the following significant technical changes with respect to EN 12299:2009:

the Scope has been revised;
Normative references have been updated;
Clause 3, Terms and definitions has been updated;
Clause 4, Symbols, units and abbreviations has been revised;
Clause 5, General description has been revised;
Clause 6, Mean comfort and continuous comfort have been revised;
Clause 7, Comfort on curve transitions has been updated;
Clause 8, Comfort on discrete events has been revised;
Clause 9, Guide for the interpretation of the results has been updated;
Annex B, Measurement techniques has been updated;
Annex C, Weighting curves has been updated;
new Annex D has been added;
(previous) Annex D has been revised and renamed in Annex F;
Annex E has been revised;
(previous) Annex F has been revised and renamed in Annex G;
Annex H has been renamed Annex I. New Annexes H, J and K added.

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

The purpose of this document is to provide methods for quantifying the ride comfort of a passenger in a rail vehicle in response to the track sections it is operated over.

The methods aim to quantify the effects of vehicle body motions on ride comfort and to make the assessment of passenger comfort predictable, repeatable, objective and meaningful.

The methods and comfort scales are validated for people of good health.

This document applies to passengers in rail vehicles operating on heavy rail networks.

This document applies to measurements of motions. It also applies to simulated motions. Guidance is provided on:

which method described within the document should be used for different scenarios;
typical values for different comfort levels;
the application of simulation.

This document excludes health and safety issues, non-passenger carrying vehicles, vehicle homologation and safety, limit values, motion sickness, discomfort caused by accelerating and braking, design guidelines and measurement technology.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Symbols, units and abbreviations

5 General description

5.1 General

5.2 Passenger exposure to vibrations

5.3 Application

5.4 Characteristics of rail vehicle motions

5.5 Ride comfort

5.6 Direct and indirect measurements

5.7 Summary table of procedures

5.8 Application of comfort indices

6 Mean comfort and continuous comfort

6.1 General

6.2 Basis of the method

6.3 Methodology

6.4 Test conditions

6.5 Parameters to be measured

6.6 Definition of intermediate quantities

6.7 Definition of comfort indexes

6.8 Test report

7 Comfort on curve transitions

7.1 General

7.2 Basis of the method

7.3 Methodology

7.4 Test conditions

7.5 Parameters to be measured

7.6 Definition of intermediate quantities

7.7 Definition of comfort index P_CT

7.8 Alternative comfort index ‘sliding P_CT over 3 s’

7.9 Test report

8 Comfort on discrete events

8.1 General

8.2 Basis of the method

8.3 Methodology

8.4 Test conditions

8.5 Parameters to be measured

8.6 Definition of quantities

8.7 Definition of comfort index P_DE

8.8 Test report

9 Guide for the interpretation of results

9.1 General

9.2 Mean comfort

9.3 Continuous comfort

9.4 Comfort on curve transitions

9.5 Comfort on discrete events

Bibliography