Is every shunter a road-rail vehicle?

No. A shunter can be exclusively rail-based. The term road-rail requires an off-track capability or another mode explicitly provided for in the design and documentation of the equipment concerned.

Can a road-rail shunter run anywhere on the national rail network?

No. No general capability can be inferred from the equipment's name. The vehicle type, its permits, the domain, the route, the mission and the applicable operating rules must be examined by the competent parties.

What data should be tracked for towed or pushed vehicles?

The level of detail depends on the mission and the operating procedure. It may be necessary to identify the vehicles, their order, their particularities and the data used by the responsible parties. The software must not invent composition rules.

Can engine hours and kilometres be mixed to trigger maintenance?

Only if the validated maintenance plan explicitly sets that rule. Meters must keep their unit, origin and date; an arbitrary conversion could trigger an operation too early or too late.

Road-rail shunter: definition and tracking

Is a shunter road-rail? Definitions, the boundary with rolling stock, uses, fleet records and preparing a job.

Definition

A shunter does not necessarily have a road mode

In its version 3 of 6 February 2026, the EPSF vocabulary guide cites the shunter (locotracteur) among the examples of motive units, but does not give it a standalone definition. The name, function and category of the actual equipment must therefore be taken from its records and the applicable reference framework, without reintroducing a definition from an older version. Many pieces of equipment with this name run on rail only. Their presence in a fleet of construction equipment does not turn them into road-rail vehicles.

Some traction equipment may nonetheless have an off-rail mode, a rail-mounting device or a hybrid design. These must then be identified from their exact documentation, without building a category from a photo or a search query. For SEO as much as for operations, writing “road-rail shunter” should describe equipment that is genuinely bi-mode, not act as a general synonym for shunter.

Term	Management reference point	Point to confirm
Rail shunter	A motive unit for traction or propulsion running on rail	Exact category, domain, characteristics and operating rules
Road-rail vehicle	Equipment with an off-track mode and a rail capability	Design, rail-mounting procedure, restrictions and configuration records
Hybrid traction equipment	A descriptive label, not to be standardised without a source	Manufacturer's naming and the classification given by the competent parties

Name it according to the records

The internal category must stay consistent with the applicable documentation. A commercial or SEO label must never change a vehicle's operational classification.

Operations

Qualifying the traction, the associated vehicles and the domain

A request such as “book the shunter” is missing the information that determines preparation: vehicles to be moved, site, route, time slot, manoeuvre expected, interfaces and how operations are organised. Conditions can differ between a private siding, a workshop, a works base and the national rail network. A permit or rule valid in one scope must not be extended to another.

The fleet manager does not work out alone the compatibility of a consist or the braking conditions. They gather the characteristics and documents needed by the people responsible for operations. The job record keeps the equipment actually used and the decisions issued under the applicable procedures.

Motive unit

Identity, type, configuration, energy source, characteristics, restrictions and known technical condition.

Vehicles moved

Identifiers, planned consist, particularities and data required by the operating procedure.

Domain and mission

Site, route, task, contacts, local rules and permits that genuinely apply.

Fact sheet

Structuring records that link the vehicle, its sub-assemblies and events

The shunter has a lasting identity, but its condition evolves with jobs, maintenance, inspections and modifications. The history must make it possible to find the configuration known at a given date. Replacing the old record with the latest PDF received loses this chronology and can hide how an outstanding issue was handled.

Meter readings and consumption figures only make sense if their source and unit stay stable. Engine hours, distance travelled, cycles or energy used may serve different plans. A single reading does not necessarily trigger the same action for every machine: the validated maintenance rule must be linked to the relevant type and sub-assembly.

Working checklist

✓ Vehicle or serial number, type, keeper and fleet identifier checked.
✓ Operating domain and restrictions kept together with their source.
✓ Characteristics needed for operations available without ambiguous transcription.
✓ Sub-assemblies tracked, maintenance plans, meters and thresholds documented.
✓ Software versions or technical modifications logged where relevant.
✓ Reports, observations, actions and decisions linked without erasing the source document.
✓ Mission, consist or associated vehicles kept at the level the procedure requires.
✓ Incidents, downtime and return to service assigned to the responsible parties.

Workflow

Preparing an assignment without confusing scheduling with a permit to move

Scheduling answers the question “which machine is planned, where and when?” Operations answer other questions: can the machine be used in this domain, for this mission and under the established conditions? The two flows must be linked without implying that a confirmed booking settles every decision.

Describe the request Identify the domain, the manoeuvre, the vehicles involved, the schedule and the interfaces.
Choose a candidate Compare the request against category, characteristics, restrictions and availability.
Assemble the record Present the documents and data expected by those responsible for operations and maintenance.
Handle discrepancies Make reserves, missing documents and incompatibilities visible instead of overriding them with a manual status.
Log the decisions Keep the author, date, scope and source of every decision required by the procedure.
Close the return Reconcile meter reading, events, condition and actions before offering a new availability slot.

Trackary does not issue any permit

The software can organise a fleet record, jobs and the information entered. It does not determine composition rules, type approval, or the right to run in a given domain.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and limits of this guide

EPSF EXP-GUID-041-V3 — Vocabulary used in railway safety texts ↗ Guide, version 3 of 6 February 2026, which cites the shunter among motive units without giving it a standalone definition.
EPSF — Type authorisation and placing rail vehicles on the market ↗ Overview of the authorisation process for rail vehicle types in the scope described by EPSF.
SNCF Réseau — Checking the compliance of your works equipment ↗ Context on compliance procedures for works equipment and the role of the infrastructure manager.
INRS — Organising maintenance and risk factors ↗ General reference points on the risks and organisational conditions for maintenance work.
This guide provides no traction, braking, consist, driving or routing rules.
The category and domain of a shunter must be confirmed in the documentation and permits that apply to the actual vehicle.
Fleet software replaces neither the authorities, nor the infrastructure manager, nor the operator, nor the competent persons.