8608 — Railway or tramway track fixtures and fittings (excl. sleepers of wood, concrete or steel, sections of track and other track fixtures not yet assembled and railway or tramway track construction material); mechanical, incl. electromechanical, signalling, safety or traffic control equipment for railways, tramways, roads, inland waterways, parking facilities, port installations or airfields; parts of the foregoing

8608 Tracking equipment and appliances for railway or tram tracks; mechanical (including electromechanical) signalling equipment, safety or traffic control devices on railways, tramways, roads x, inland waterways, parking facilities, ports or aerodromes; parts of said devices and equipment

(A) TRAVEL EQUIPMENT AND EQUIPMENTS FOR RAIL OR TRAVEL WAYS This category of equipment includes: (1) A RAIL WAY assembled, that is, rails already attached to sleepers or other base. Such paths can be supplied in the form of joints, arrows or crosses, curves and straight sections of the path, etc. (2) Rotary circles, with or without electric drive, i.e. larger, usually circular platforms that can rotate around their axis and are equipped with rail or tram rails; in most cases they are also equipped with rollers supporting the platform along its perimeter. Locomotives, etc., can turn around on a turning circle and descend from it in a different direction. This heading also includes hand-operated turning circles for narrow gauge railways on construction sites, quarries, etc. However, this heading does not include locomotives or transverse platforms by which railway vehicles are transferred from one track to another. These and other movable machines (e.g. rollers, wagon pushers, etc.) are classified in heading 8428. (3) Track stops, i.e. hydraulic or spring-loaded stopping devices installed at the end of each leg of the track to reduce impact, if the rolling stock does not stop at the end of the track. They are sealed either in brickwork (for example, end stations) or in strong structures (for example, on shunting tracks). (4) General gates, i.e. arch-shaped structures, which ensure, with the supervision of passing trains under them, the maximum dimensions in width and height established for a given section of the track. This heading does not include wooden sleepers (heading 4406), concrete sleepers (heading 6810) or sleepers, rails or other elements of unassembled road construction materials of ferrous metals which fall in heading 7302 (see the relevant explanation).

Posts and gantries for carrying overhead wires are not regarded as railway or tramway track fixtures and are classified according to the material of which they are made, in headings 6810, 7308, etc. (B) MECHANICAL (INCLUDING ELECTRO-MECHANICAL) SIGNALLING, SAFETY OR TRAFFIC CONTROL EQUIPMENT FOR RAILWAYS, TRAMWAYS, ROADS, INLAND WATERWAYS, PARKING FACILITIES, PORT INSTALLATIONS OR AIRFIELDS This category covers mainly apparatus by means of which signalling equipment, etc. is controlled from a control point, generally situated some distance away, by the movement of levers, cranks, rods, cables, chains, etc., or by hydro-pneumatic devices or electric motors. Electro-pneumatic equipment (e.g., for railways) is also covered by this heading. In such equipment the signals or points are operated by a pneumatic motor, the admission or exhaust of air into the motor cylinder being regulated by an electro-magnetic valve which in turn is controlled from the control panel of the signal box. The signalling equipment and its pneumatic operating gear are classified as mechanical equipment of this heading, but the electric control panel, etc. falls in Chapter 85. The term "signalling equipment" in this heading means apparatus which can display two or more signals, each of which is an instruction for the movement of vehicles, vessels or aircraft. It does not extend to road, railway and other signs not incorporating mechanical elements (e.g., speed limit, direction or gradient signs); these signs are classified according to the material of which they are made (e.g., in heading 4421 or 8310). Provided they are mechanically or electro-mechanically operated as indicated above, the following types of apparatus fall in this category: (1) Signal box equipment. The complete set comprises control levers with transmission wheels, rods, wires, etc., mounted in a frame. In most cases interlocking devices are used which prevent the points and signals from being operated inconsistently. (2) Semaphore arms, disc signals, complete signal posts or signal bridges. (3) Control or route indicator mechanisms fitted to interconnected signals to ensure their coordinated operation. (4) Point-operating devices (ground frames of the lever, pedal, crank or other type) for operating points, signals, etc. (5) Point position indicators. They are actuated by the movement of the points themselves; their movements are transmitted back to the signal box so as to inform the signalman that the points are in the correct position. (6) Point locks and locking bars. These devices, mounted directly on the track, automatically lock the points while a train is passing, making it impossible to change the position of the points from the signal box until the train has passed.

(7) Wagon retarders. Devices used to slow down or stop rolling stock (for example, to slow down the movement of sorted wagons entering the sorting path). As a rule, they consist mainly of a pair of rods mounted on each track rail; under the action of a hydraulic or pneumatic actuator, these rods can exert a braking effect on the wheels of a movable ava station passing along the path. (8) Droppers and stops . . . when these devices are removed from the rail, they allow the passage of the wagon; when they move on the surface of the rolling rail, they act as a stop or deflection device to keep the wagon out of the way. (9) Travel barriers. As a rule, they are a T-shaped rod device installed along the path and driven by compressed air. The rod is connected to the signal device so that when the latter indicates "path closed", the rod is raised to a position in which it activates the brake control lever on any train passing on such a signal. (10) Automatic signaling equipment for poor visibility. This device has pneumatic control, automatically in case of danger on the way signals about poor visibility. (11) The control device for railway crossings for lifting and lowering or opening or closing the barrier .The device is usually a manually operated crankwheel and a geared gear or lever system controlled from the checkpoint in the same way as signal devices or arrows. Crossing barriers are classified according to the material of which they are made (heading 7308 if they are made of ferrous metals or heading 4421 if they are made of wood), but mechanical or electromechanical signalling devices indicating whether the barrier is open or closed are classified in this heading. (12) Signal devices with manual or electromechanical drive, showing "stop" and "movement is open" for road or sea transport. This heading also includes identifiable parts of the above equipment (e.g. rotary plates, semaphore wings and signal discs, control levers, lock cases, locking mechanisms). Nor does this heading cover: (a) chains and other general-purpose parts as defined in Note 2 to Section XV of base metal (Section XV) and similar articles of plastics (Chapter 39); general-purpose materials (such as wires and barbells) and metal structures and metal parts of such structures included in Section XV. It should be noted, however, that transfer rods passing under rails for connecting control devices to transfer rails are classified in heading 7302 together with certain other, specifically defined types of railway or tram track materials of ferrous metals; (b) signal lights (heading 8530 or 9405); (c) sirens, fog warning sound and other audible signaling equipment (considered in the relevant headings); (d) alarm devices on board vehicles, ships, etc. (e., alarm devices for ships).

Notes

English text as published in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2021/1832 (Combined Nomenclature). The EAEU tariff and the EU nomenclature copy these notes from the same convention. For a Russian declaration the binding version is the Russian one: Annex to Decision No 80 of the EEC Council of 14 September 2021.

1. This chapter does not cover:

(a) railway or tramway sleepers of wood or of concrete, or concrete guide-track sections for hovertrains (heading 4406 or 6810);

(b) railway or tramway track construction material of iron or steel of heading 7302; or

(c) electrical signalling, safety or traffic control equipment of heading 8530.

2. Heading 8607 applies, inter alia, to:

(a) axles, wheels, wheel sets (running gear), metal tyres, hoops and hubs and other parts of wheels;

(b) frames, underframes, bogies and bissel-bogies;

(c) axle-boxes; brake gear;

(d) buffers for rolling-stock; hooks and other coupling gear and corridor connections;

(e) coachwork.

3. Subject to the provisions of note 1 above, heading 8608 applies, inter alia, to:

(a) assembled track, turntables, platform buffers, loading gauges;

(b) semaphores, mechanical signal discs, level-crossing control gear, signal and point controls, and other mechanical (including electro-mechanical) signalling, safety or traffic control equipment, whether or not fitted for electric lighting, for railways, tramways, roads, inland waterways, parking facilities, port installations or airfields.