TSI Operation and Traffic Management

Scope

Technical specification for interoperability for the operation and traffic management subsystem of the EU rail system, laying down harmonised operating principles and rules covering train preparation and composition, dispatching, degraded operation and safety-related communication between drivers and signallers. It is directly binding on railway undertakings and infrastructure managers, which must align their operational rulebooks, procedures and staff competence management with it; it repealed Decision 2012/757/EU.

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/773, the Technical Specification for Interoperability for Operation and Traffic Management, lays down harmonised operating principles and rules covering train preparation and composition, dispatching procedures, management of degraded operation, and safety-related communication protocols between drivers and signallers. Unlike the structural subsystem TSIs, it applies directly and continuously to railway undertakings and infrastructure managers, which must align their operational rulebooks, procedures and staff competence management systems with its requirements rather than demonstrating conformity only at the point of a new asset's authorisation. It sets the framework for route compatibility checks that railway undertakings must perform before operating a vehicle on a given route, drawing on infrastructure data published in the register of infrastructure (RINF), and it establishes operational rules to support ERTMS operation across national borders. The Regulation repealed the earlier Commission Decision 2012/757/EU and its consolidated text, current as of 31 March 2025, reflects subsequent updates to its annexes. Railway undertakings and infrastructure managers apply it continuously as the operational counterpart to the structural interoperability TSIs.