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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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
Railway traffic	EU Policy	Glossary	Glossary for transport statistics - 6TH EDITION 2026	Latest release
Railway traffic on national territory	EU Policy	Glossary	Glossary for transport statistics - 6TH EDITION 2026	Latest release
Railway tunnel	Railway Tunnels	TSI	Commission Regulation (EU) No 1303/2014 of 18 November 2014 concerning the technical specification for interoperability relating to ‘safety in railway_tunnels’ of the rail system of the Europea
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	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	SMS Safety Culture 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	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)
Railway undertaking	Withdrawn	TSI	Commission Regulation (EU) No 454/2011 of 5 May 2011 on the technical specification for interoperability relating to the subsystem ‘telematics applications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	Latest release
Railway undertaking	International Relations	Agreement	Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on the Carriage of Goods and Passengers by Rail and Road
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	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	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	EU Policy	Glossary	Glossary for transport statistics - 6TH EDITION 2026	Latest release
Railway Undertaking	Freight	Agreement	General Contract of Use for wagons (CGU)
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	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	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	Vehicles / VA	Application Guide	Application Guide for the European register of authorised types of railway vehicles (ERATV) - v.5.7 on09.04.2025
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

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