ERA Railway Terminology Collection

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

Latest release: 1 April 2025

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
Balise transmission module	ERTMS	Technical Document	ERTMS/ETCS - Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations - version : 4.0.0 - date 05/07/2023
Balise, fixed	ERTMS	Technical Document	ERTMS/ETCS - Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations - version : 4.0.0 - date 05/07/2023
Balise, switchable	ERTMS	Technical Document	ERTMS/ETCS - Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations - version : 4.0.0 - date 05/07/2023
Ballast pick-up and projection onto neighbouring property	Interoperability	Decision	Commission Decision of 30 November 2009 on the reference document referred to in Article 27(4) of Directive 2008/57/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the interoperability of the rail system within the Community. (2009/965/EC)
Barcode	Telematics Applications for Passenger	Application Guide	TAP TSI Annex B.54 Indirect Fulfilment application_guide - version 1.0 of 06/12/2013
Barrier	Common Safety Method	Regulation	Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 402/2013 of 30 April 2013 on the common safety method for risk evaluation and assessment and repealing Regulation (EC) No 352/2009
Baseline	ERTMS	Technical Document	ERTMS/ETCS - Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations - version : 4.0.0 - date 05/07/2023
Baseline	Telematics Applications for Passenger	Application Guide	TAP TSI Annex B.54 Indirect Fulfilment application_guide - version 1.0 of 06/12/2013
Baseline	Telematics Applications for Passenger	Application Guide	TAP TSI Annex B.55 PRM assistance application_guide - version 1.0 of 06/12/2013
Baseline Release	ERTMS	Technical Document	ERTMS/ETCS - Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations - version : 4.0.0 - date 05/07/2023
Basic act	EU Policy	Glossary	EU budget glossary - A list of the most common words and useful terms concerning the EU budget
Basic design characteristics	Interoperability	Recommendation	2014/897/EU: Commission Recommendation of 5 December 2014 on matters related to the placing in service and use of structural subsystems and vehicles under Directives 2008/57/EC and 2004/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
Basic design characteristics	Interoperability	Application Guide	Application_guide GUI/TSI/2023 Version 1.0 20/12/2023Guide for the application of the Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs)
Basic design characteristics	Vehicles / VA	Regulation	Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/545 of 4 April 2018 establishing practical arrangements for the railway vehicle authorisation and railway vehicle type authorisation process pursuant to Directive (EU) 2016/797 of the European Parliament and of the Council
Basic design characteristics	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
Basic parameter	Interoperability	Application Guide	Application_guide GUI/TSI/2023 Version 1.0 20/12/2023Guide for the application of the Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs)
Basic parameter	Telematics Applications for Passenger	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
Basic parameter	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)
Basic parameter	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
Basic parameter	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

Certification Scheme
Common Safety Method
Conformity Assessment
Control-Command and Signalling
Data Protection
Energy
Entity in Charge of Maintenance
ERTMS
EU Policy
Freight
Human and Organisational Factor
Infrastructure
International Relations
International Standard
Interoperability
Noise
Operation
Persons with Reduced Mobility
Railway Tunnels
Registers
Regulation
RNE Glossary
Safety / SSC-SA
Sectorial Scheme
Security
SERA_EU Transport
Telematics Applications for Freight
Telematics Applications for Passenger
Vehicles / VA
Withdrawn

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