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
Tonne	SERA_EU Transport	Directive	Council Directive 96/53/EC of 25 July 1996 laying down for certain road vehicles circulating within the Community the maximum authorized dimensions in national and international traffic and the maximum authorized weights in international traffic
Tonne-kilometre (tkm)	EU Policy	Glossary	Eurostat Transport Glossary on web release November 2024
Tonne-kilometre (tkm) carried by rail	EU Policy	Glossary	Glossary for transport statistics - 6TH EDITION 2026	Latest release
Tonne-kilometre offered by a wagon or a train	EU Policy	Glossary	Glossary for transport statistics - 6TH EDITION 2026	Latest release
Tonne-km	EU Policy	Regulation	Regulation (EU) 2018/643 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 April 2018 on rail transport statistics
TOP	International Standard	EU Technical Document	CEN CENELEC ABBRAVIATION ACRONYM 2025
Top management	SMS Safety Culture Human and Organisational Factor	ISO	ISO 9000:2015(en) Quality management systems — Fundamentals and vocabulary	Latest release
Top management	SMS Safety Culture Human and Organisational Factor	ISO	ISO 45001:2018(en) Occupational health and safety management systems — Requirements with guidance for use	Latest release
Top management	SMS Safety Culture Human and Organisational Factor	ISO	ISO 55001:2024(en) Asset management — Asset management system — Requirements	Latest release
Top management	SMS Safety Culture Human and Organisational Factor	ISO	ISO 22301:2019(en) Security and resilience — Business continuity management systems — Requirements	Latest release
Top management	Common Safety Method	Application Guide	Safety management system requirements for safety certification or safety authorisation. Version 1.3 Manuscript completed in April 2021
Top ups	EU Policy	Glossary	EU budget glossary - A list of the most common words and useful terms concerning the EU budget
Top-level domain name registry or TLD name registry	Security	Directive	Directive (EU) 2022/2555 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 on measures for a high common level of cybersecurity across the Union, amending Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 and Directive (EU) 2018/1972, and repealing Directive (EU) 2016/1148 (NIS 2 Directive)
Topographical label	Withdrawn	Application Guide	TAP TSI Annex B.52 Reservation application_guide - version 1.0 of 06/12/2013	Latest release
TOR	International Standard	EU Technical Document	CEN CENELEC ABBRAVIATION ACRONYM 2025
Torch fire (See jet fire)	Freight	Glossary	Transport of dangerous goods. Risks Management Framework. Framework glossary v. 1.0/2018
Total International transport	EU Policy	Glossary	Eurostat Transport Glossary on web release November 2024
Total rail transport	EU Policy	Glossary	Eurostat Transport Glossary on web release November 2024
Tour Operator	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
Tour operator	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)

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