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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)

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

SMART

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

SMART

International Standard

EU Technical Document

CEN CENELEC ABBRAVIATION ACRONYM 2025

Latest release

Smart recharging

Energy

Regulation

Regulation (EU) 2023/1804 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 September 2023 on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure, and repealing Directive 2014/94/EU

SMB

International Standard

EU Technical Document

CEN CENELEC ABBRAVIATION ACRONYM 2025

Latest release

SME

International Standard

EU Technical Document

CEN CENELEC ABBRAVIATION ACRONYM 2025

Latest release

SME

EU Policy

EU Technical Document

Technical document from the Publications Office of the European Union - ‘Style guide’ Coordination Interinstitutional Style Guide - version on 19.04.2022

SMGS

International Relations

Convention

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

SMGS Annex 2

International Relations

Convention

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

SMIC

EU Policy

EU Technical Document

Technical document from the Publications Office of the European Union - ‘Style guide’ Coordination Interinstitutional Style Guide - version on 19.04.2022

SMIG

EU Policy

EU Technical Document

Technical document from the Publications Office of the European Union - ‘Style guide’ Coordination Interinstitutional Style Guide - version on 19.04.2022

Smoke obscuration

International Standard

ISO

ISO 5660-1:2015(en) Reaction-to-fire tests — Heat release, smoke production and mass loss rate — Part 1: Heat release rate (cone calorimeter method) and smoke production rate

Smoke production

International Standard

ISO

ISO 5660-1:2015(en) Reaction-to-fire tests — Heat release, smoke production and mass loss rate — Part 1: Heat release rate (cone calorimeter method) and smoke production rate

Smoke production rate

International Standard

ISO

ISO 5660-1:2015(en) Reaction-to-fire tests — Heat release, smoke production and mass loss rate — Part 1: Heat release rate (cone calorimeter method) and smoke production rate

SMS

Entity in Charge of Maintenance

Application Guide

Guidance on ECM Certification process Guide for the application of Article 14 of Directive (EU) 2016/798 and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 2019/779 on a system of certification of entities in charge of maintenance for vehicles. Version 9.0 on 01/03/2021

SMS

Safety / SSC-SA

Application Guide

Implementation Guidance for CSIs - v. 6.0 on 24.05.2023

Latest release

SMS

Control-Command and Signalling

ERA Technical Document

Guideline - Certification: Restrictions and added functions V1.0 of 18.06.2024

SMS

Freight

Glossary

Transport of dangerous goods. Risks Management Framework. Framework glossary v. 1.0/2018

SMS

RNE Glossary

Glossary

RNE Glossary - NS_CID_Glossary_2025

Latest release

SMS

Vehicles / VA

Application Guide

Guidelines for the practical arrangements for the vehicle authorisation process - v. 2.1 on 14/02/2024

Latest release

SMS

Operation

TSI

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/773 of 16 May 2019 on the technical specification for interoperability relating to the operation and traffic management subsystem of the rail system within the European Union and repealing Decision 2012/757/EU