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
Unit train	RNE Glossary	Glossary	RNE Glossary - NS_CID_Glossary_2025
Unit train	Withdrawn	TSI	Commission Regulation (EU) No 1305/2014 of 11 December 2014 on the technical specification for interoperability relating to the telematics applications for freight subsystem of the rail system in the European Union and repealing the Regulation (EC) No 62/2006	Latest release
Universal design	Persons with Reduced Mobility	Decision	Council Decision of 26 November 2009 concerning the conclusion, by the European Community, of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Universal toilet	Persons with Reduced Mobility	Regulation	Commission Regulation (EU) No 1300/2014 of 18 November 2014 on the technical specifications for interoperability relating to accessibility of the Union's rail system for persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility.
Unladen vehicle weight	EU Policy	Glossary	Eurostat Transport Glossary on web release November 2024
Unloader	International Relations	Convention	Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF) Appendix C – Regulations concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail (RID)
Unloader	Safety / SSC-SA	Directive	Directive (EU) 2016/798 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on railway safety (recast)
Unloader	RNE Glossary	Glossary	RNE Glossary - NS_CID_Glossary_2025
Unloading	International Relations	Convention	Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF) Appendix C – Regulations concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail (RID)
UNMS SR	International Standard	EU Technical Document	CEN CENELEC ABBRAVIATION ACRONYM 2025
UNMZ	International Standard	EU Technical Document	CEN CENELEC ABBRAVIATION ACRONYM 2025
Unplanned maintenance activity	Entity in Charge of Maintenance	Application Guide	ISO 9879:2024(en) Railway applications — Rolling stock maintenance — Vocabulary	Latest release
Unprotected wrong side failure	ERTMS	Technical Document	ERTMS/ETCS - Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations - version : 4.0.0 - date 05/07/2023
UNRRA	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
UNRWA	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
Upgrade of the railway infrastructure	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)
Upgraded high-speed railway line	EU Policy	Glossary	Glossary for transport statistics - 6TH EDITION 2026	Latest release
Upgrading	International Relations	COTIF Document	Uniform Rules concerning the Technical Admission of Railway Material used in International Traffic (ATMF - Appendix G to the Convention) version of 01.11.2023
Upgrading	Vehicles / VA	Application Guide	Application Guide for the European register of authorised types of railway vehicles (ERATV) - v.5.7 on09.04.2025
Upgrading	RNE Glossary	Glossary	RNE Glossary - NS_CID_Glossary_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

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Application Guide
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CIT Document
Convention
COTIF Document
Council Recommendation
Decision
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ERA Technical Document
EU Technical Document
Glossary
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International Agreement
ISO
Manual
Recommendation
Regulation
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Technical Document
TSI
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