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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Disclaimer
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
Subtree	International Standard	ISO	ISO/IEC 10026-1:1998(en) Information technology — Open Systems Interconnection — Distributed Transaction Processing — Part 1: OSI TP Model	Latest release
Successive carrier	Telematics Applications for Passenger	Application Guide	TAP TSI Annex B.51 Tariff application_guide - version 1.0 of 06/12/2013
Successive carrier	Telematics Applications for Passenger	Application Guide	TAP TSI Annex B.54 Indirect Fulfilment application_guide - version 1.0 of 06/12/2013
Successive carrier	Telematics Applications for Passenger	Application Guide	TAP TSI Annex B.55 PRM assistance application_guide - version 1.0 of 06/12/2013
Suicide	Safety / SSC-SA	Directive	Directive (EU) 2016/798 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on railway safety (recast)
Suicide	EU Policy	Glossary	Glossary for transport statistics - 5TH EDITION 2019
Super high cube container	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
Superior	International Standard	ISO	ISO/IEC 10026-1:1998(en) Information technology — Open Systems Interconnection — Distributed Transaction Processing — Part 1: OSI TP Model	Latest release
Supervised manoeuvre	ERTMS	Technical Document	ERTMS/ETCS - Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations - version : 4.0.0 - date 05/07/2023
Supervisory authority	Data Protection	Regulation	Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC
Supervisory authority concerned	Data Protection	Regulation	Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC
Supervisory board	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)
Supplementary sign	International Standard	ISO	ISO 3864-1:2011(en) Graphical symbols — Safety colours and safety signs — Part 1: Design principles for safety signs and safety markings
Supply chain	International Standard	ISO	ISO 22163:2023(en) Railway applications — Railway quality management system — ISO 9001:2015 and specific requirements for application in the railway sector
Supply contract	EU Policy	Regulation	Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2024 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (recast)
Supply of a good for distribution	Vehicles / VA	Application Guide	Guidelines for the practical arrangements for the vehicle authorisation process - v. 2.1 on 14/02/2024	Latest release
Supported system version	ERTMS	Technical Document	ERTMS/ETCS - Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations - version : 4.0.0 - date 05/07/2023
Surplus	EU Policy	Glossary	EU budget glossary - A list of the most common words and useful terms concerning the EU budget
Surveillance	Entity in Charge of Maintenance	Certification Scheme	Certification scheme for ECM and outsourced maintenance functions under Regulation (EU) 2019/779
Suspension of authorisation	Vehicles / VA	Decision	Commission Implementing Decision 2011/665/EU of 4 October 2011 on the European register of authorised types of railway vehicles

Common Safety Method
Conformity Assessment
Control-Command and Signalling
Data Protection
Energy
Entity in Charge of Maintenance
ERTMS
EU Policy
Freight
Human and Organisational Factor
Infrastructure
International Relations
International Standard
Interoperability
Noise
Operation
Persons with Reduced Mobility
Railway Tunnels
Registers
Regulation
RNE Glossary
Safety / SSC-SA
Security
SERA_EU Transport
Single Market Mutual Recognition Conformity Assessment
Telematics Applications for Freight
Telematics Applications for Passenger
Vehicles / VA
Withdrawn

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