AdobeStock_940203025 featured — Image credit: © European Union Agency for Railways/jongaNU - stock.adobe.com (AI Generated)

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.

Click here for more information

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)

Download the full Terminology

Filter by context

Filter by document type

Filter by latest release

Sort by

Items per page

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
Radio-based ERTMS	Infrastructure	Regulation	Regulation (EU) 2024/1679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network, amending Regulations (EU) 2021/1153 and (EU) No 913/2010 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013
Radioactive contents	International Relations	Convention	Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF) Appendix C – Regulations concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail (RID)
Radiodetermination	ERTMS	Directive	Directive 2014/53/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to the making available on the market of radio equipment and repealing Directive 1999/5/EC
RAG	RNE Glossary	Glossary	RNE Glossary - NS_CID_Glossary_2025
Rail accident	EU Policy	Glossary	Glossary for transport statistics - 6TH EDITION 2026	Latest release
Rail accident involving the transport of dangerous goods	EU Policy	Glossary	Glossary for transport statistics - 6TH EDITION 2026	Latest release
Rail cabotage transport	EU Policy	Glossary	Glossary for transport statistics - 6TH EDITION 2026	Latest release
Rail casualty	EU Policy	Glossary	Glossary for transport statistics - 6TH EDITION 2026	Latest release
Rail coach	EU Policy	Glossary	Glossary for transport statistics - 6TH EDITION 2026	Latest release
Rail collision	EU Policy	Glossary	Glossary for transport statistics - 6TH EDITION 2026	Latest release
Rail Facilities Portal (RFP)	RNE Glossary	Glossary	RNE Glossary - NS_CID_Glossary_2025
Rail Freight Corridor (RFC)	RNE Glossary	Glossary	RNE Glossary - NS_CID_Glossary_2025
Rail Freight Governance	RNE Glossary	Glossary	RNE Glossary - NS_CID_Glossary_2025
Rail freight governance	Infrastructure	Regulation	Regulation (EU) 2024/1679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network, amending Regulations (EU) 2021/1153 and (EU) No 913/2010 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013
Rail freight terminal	EU Policy	Glossary	Glossary for transport statistics - 6TH EDITION 2026	Latest release
Rail freight transport	EU Policy	Glossary	Eurostat Transport Glossary on web release November 2024
Rail freight transport revenue	EU Policy	Glossary	Glossary for transport statistics - 6TH EDITION 2026	Latest release
Rail incident	EU Policy	Glossary	Glossary for transport statistics - 6TH EDITION 2026	Latest release
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 inclination	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

Common Safety Method
Conformity Assessment
Control-Command and Signalling
Data Protection
Energy
Entity in Charge of Maintenance
ERTMS
EU Policy
Freight
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
SMS Safety Culture Human and Organisational Factor
Telematics Applications for Passenger and Freight Services
Vehicles / VA
Withdrawn

Agreement
Application Guide
Certification Scheme
CIT Document
Convention
COTIF Document
Council Recommendation
Decision
Directive
ERA Technical Document
EU Technical Document
Glossary
Guide
International Agreement
ISO
Manual
Recommendation
Regulation
Sectorial Scheme
Technical Document
TSI
Website