TSI OPE Application Guide

Scope

ERA's non-binding guide for applying the TSI Operation and Traffic Management (Regulation (EU) 2019/773 as amended), covering fundamental operational principles, safety-related communications methodology, ERTMS operational rules, and route compatibility and route book requirements. Railway undertakings and infrastructure managers use it to integrate TSI OPE obligations into their safety management systems.

ERA's TSI OPE Application Guide is the Agency's non-binding guide to applying the Technical Specification for Interoperability for Operation and Traffic Management (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/773, as amended), covering the TSI's fundamental operational principles, its methodology for safety-related communication between drivers and signallers, ERTMS operational rules for cross-border and cross-system running, and the route compatibility and route book requirements railway undertakings must satisfy. Railway undertakings and infrastructure managers use it to integrate the TSI's operational obligations into their safety management systems and operational rulebooks, translating the TSI's binding but relatively high-level requirements into more concrete operational guidance. As a living document, ERA updates it periodically to reflect operational experience and TSI amendments; the current version 5.00 (GUI/TSI OPE/2025), dated 12 December 2025, replaced the prior 2024 edition at the same canonical web address. It does not itself carry legal force but reflects the Agency's official interpretation of the binding operational requirements set out in the TSI. It is used alongside the route-compatibility data published in the register of infrastructure (RINF) that the TSI OPE requires railway undertakings to consult.