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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

Railway undertaking

Interoperability

Application Guide

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

Railway Undertaking

Freight

Agreement

General Contract of Use for wagons (CGU)

Railway undertaking

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)

Railway undertaking

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

Railway undertaking

EU Policy

Regulation

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

Railway undertaking

Safety / SSC-SA

Directive

Directive (EU) 2016/798 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on railway safety (recast)

Railway Undertaking

Infrastructure

Glossary

European Rail Infrastructure Managers

Railway Undertaking

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

Railway undertaking

Interoperability

Directive

Directive (EU) 2016/797 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on the interoperability of the rail system within the European Union (recast)

Railway Undertaking

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

Railway undertaking

Human and Organisational Factor

Directive

Directive 2007/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on the certification of train drivers operating locomotives and trains on the railway system in the Community

Railway undertaking

Common Safety Method

Application Guide

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

Railway Undertaking (ERA Ontology ref.)

Infrastructure

Application Guide

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

Latest release

Railway Undertaking (RU)

RNE Glossary

Glossary

RNE Glossary - NS_CID_Glossary_2025

Railway Undertaking (RU)

Telematics Applications for Freight

TSI

Commission Regulation (EU) No 1305/2014 of 11 December 2014 on the technical specification for interoperability relating to the telematics applications for freight subsystem of the rail system in the European Union and repealing the Regulation (EC) No 62/2006

Railway Undertaking Advisory Group (RAG)

RNE Glossary

Glossary

RNE Glossary - NS_CID_Glossary_2025

Railway vehicle

EU Policy

Glossary

Glossary for transport statistics - 5TH EDITION 2019

Railway vehicle

Vehicles / VA

ERA Technical Document

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

Latest release

Railway vehicle

EU Policy

Regulation

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

Railway vehicle

International Relations

Convention

Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF) Appendix C – Regulations concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail (RID)