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ERA Railway Terminology visual v0 featured

ERA Railway Terminology Collection

Last updated: 5 December 2025.

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" (582)

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

Rail inclination

Infrastructure

Regulation

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/777 of 16 May 2019 on the common specifications for the register of railway infrastructure and repealing Implementing Decision 2014/880/EU

Rail infrastructure

Common Safety Method

Application Guide

Safety management system requirements for safety certification or safety authorisation. Version 1.3 Manuscript completed in April 2021

Rail infrastructure manager

EU Policy

Glossary

Glossary for transport statistics - 5TH EDITION 2019

Rail loading gauge

Freight

Glossary

Terminology on Combined Transport from Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE). Prepared by the UN/ECE, the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT) and the European Commission (EC). UNITED NATIONS - New York and Geneva, 2001

Rail loading gauge

EU Policy

Glossary

Glossary for transport statistics - 5TH EDITION 2019

Rail Market Monitoring Scheme (RMMS)

Infrastructure

Glossary

European Rail Infrastructure Managers

Rail mounted machine

International Standard

ISO

ISO/DIS 22575(en) Railway applications — General terms and definitions

Rail Net Europe (RNE)

Infrastructure

Glossary

European Rail Infrastructure Managers

Rail pad

Infrastructure

TSI

Commission Regulation (EU) No 1299/2014 of 18 November 2014 on the technical specifications for interoperability relating to the ‘infrastructure’ subsystem of the rail system in the European Union

Rail passenger

EU Policy

Glossary

Glossary for transport statistics - 5TH EDITION 2019

Rail passenger

EU Policy

Regulation

Regulation (EU) 2018/643 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 April 2018 on rail transport statistics

Rail passenger disembarked

EU Policy

Glossary

Glossary for transport statistics - 5TH EDITION 2019

Rail passenger embarked

EU Policy

Glossary

Glossary for transport statistics - 5TH EDITION 2019

Rail passenger journey

EU Policy

Glossary

Glossary for transport statistics - 5TH EDITION 2019

Rail passenger-kilometre (pkm)

EU Policy

Glossary

Glossary for transport statistics - 5TH EDITION 2019

Rail return current

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)

Rail Standardisation Coordination Platform for Europe (RASCOP)

Infrastructure

Glossary

European Rail Infrastructure Managers

Rail system

Telematics Applications for Passenger

TSI

Commission Regulation (EU) No 454/2011 of 5 May 2011 on the technical specification for interoperability relating to the subsystem ‘telematics applications for passenger services’ of the trans-European rail system

Rail track gauge

EU Policy

Glossary

Glossary for transport statistics - 5TH EDITION 2019

Rail transit

EU Policy

Glossary

Glossary for transport statistics - 5TH EDITION 2019