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ERA Railway Terminology visual v0 featured

ERA Railway Terminology Collection

Last updated: 12 March 2026

The ERA Railway Terminology Collection gathers terms and abbreviations that are contained in the EU legal framework for railway, technical documents produced by bodies which are engaged in the development of important evolution in the railway system and other relevant glossaries.

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The file you will get by clicking the "Download the full Terminology" button below is in CSV format. To convert it to a readable Excel file:

1. Download the CSV file
2. Open a blank Excel sheet
3. Go to Data → Get Data from CSV → select the CSV file you just downloaded
4. The Excel file will be generated (without any encoding issues)

Starting with "R" (637)

ERA Railway Terminology Collection is a consultation tool, developed to support the sharing of information through the actors involved in running the Single European Railway Area (SERA). The responsibility for the correctness, completeness, accuracy, or reliability of the information in ERA RTC lays upon the authors of the definitions, as they derive from reference documents having their own preparation and approval flow. Users cannot call ERA liable for the use they make of the content. Please consider that when the collection is exported (.csv) and then printed or converted, it becomes uncontrolled.
Term Context Document Type Origin document

Reference track section

International Standard

ISO

ISO 3095:2013(en) Acoustics — Railway applications — Measurement of noise emitted by railbound vehicles

Refrigerated wagon

EU Policy

Glossary

Glossary for transport statistics - 6TH EDITION 2026

Latest release

Refuelling facilities

RNE Glossary

Glossary

RNE Glossary - NS_CID_Glossary_2025

Refuelling point

Energy

Regulation

Regulation (EU) 2023/1804 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 September 2023 on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure, and repealing Directive 2014/94/EU

Refuelling station

Energy

Regulation

Regulation (EU) 2023/1804 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 September 2023 on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure, and repealing Directive 2014/94/EU

Regenerative braking

Interoperability

Decision

Commission Decision of 30 November 2009 on the reference document referred to in Article 27(4) of Directive 2008/57/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the interoperability of the rail system within the Community. (2009/965/EC)

Regional organisation

International Relations

COTIF Document

Uniform Rules concerning the Technical Admission of Railway Material used in International Traffic (ATMF - Appendix G to the Convention) version of 01.11.2023

Regional rail passenger service

SERA_EU Transport

Regulation

Regulation (EU) 2021/782 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2021 on rail passengers’ rights and obligations (recast)

Regional services

International Relations

Agreement

Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on the Carriage of Goods and Passengers by Rail and Road

Regional services

SERA_EU Transport

Directive

Directive 2012/34/EU of the Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 establishing a single European railway area (recast)

Register of infrastructure (RINF)

Interoperability

Application Guide

Application_guide GUI/TSI/2023 Version 1.0 20/12/2023Guide for the application of the Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs)

Register of infrastructure (RINF)

Control-Command and Signalling

Application Guide

GUI/CCS TSI/2023 Version 1.0 17/06/2024 Guide for the application of the CCS TSI 2023/1695 In accordance with Article 19(3) of Regulation (EU) 2016/796 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016

Register of infrastructure (RINF)

Vehicles / VA

Application Guide

GUI/LOC&PAS TSI/2021 - version 3.0 on 15/02/2021 Guide for the application of the LOC&PAS TSI (Commission Regulation (EU) No 1302/2014 of 18 November 2014 and amended by the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/776) In accordance with Article 19(3) of Regulation (EU) 2016/796 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016

Register of infrastructure (RINF)

RNE Glossary

Glossary

RNE Glossary - NS_CID_Glossary_2025

Register of Infrastructure (RINF)

Infrastructure

Application Guide

Guide on the application of the common specifications of the register of Infrastructure - v. 3.1.0 on 31.03.2025

Register of infrastructure (RINF)

Vehicles / VA

Application Guide

Application Guide for the European register of authorised types of railway vehicles (ERATV) - v.5.7 on09.04.2025

Registered place of business

Vehicles / VA

ERA Technical Document

Application Guide for Vehicle Keeper Marking Code (VKM) Register - v. 1.2 on 01.04.2014

Registration

EU Policy

Decision

Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121 of 6 July 2020 on records management and archives

Registration

Operation

TSI

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/773 of 16 May 2019 on the technical specification for interoperability relating to the operation and traffic management subsystem of the rail system within the European Union and repealing Decision 2012/757/EU

Registration

ERTMS

ERA Technical Document

Technical Document ERTMS Operational Principles and Rules ERA_ERTMS_OPE_AppA_5 / V 5.0 on 09.04.2019