EN 50343 specifies requirements for the installation of cabling on railway vehicles and within electrical enclosures on railway vehicles, including magnetic levitation trains and trolley buses. With respect to trolley buses, EN 50343 applies to the whole electric traction system, including current collecting circuits, power converters and the respective control circuits. The installation of other circuits is covered by street vehicle standards for example those for combustion driven buses.
It covers cabling for making electrical connections between items of electrical equipment, including cables, busbars, terminals and plug or socket devices. It does not cover special effect conductors like fibre optic cables or hollow conductors (waveguides). The material selection criteria given here apply to cables with copper conductors.
EN 50343 does not apply to the following:
— special purpose vehicles, such as track-laying machines, ballast cleaners and personnel carriers,
— vehicles used for entertainment on fairgrounds,
— vehicles used in mining,
— electric cars,
— funicular railways.
As the field of cabling in rolling stock is also dealt with in the cable makers’ standard, references are made to EN 50264 series, EN 50306 series, EN 50382 series and EN 50355. EN 50343 applies in conjunction with the relevant product and installation standards and describes minimum requirements.