Railway Terms Abbreviated

[J-2739]

Good evening, everyone!

Just though I'd start a thread so people don't have to explain abbreviations of rail terms to people who don't know them and thus make everyone's lives simple! You can put out any abbreviations from rail infrastructure to station (any welcome).

I'll start with current TOCs (National Rail):

TOC- Train Operating Company
AA- Abellio Greater Anglia
SR- Abellio ScotRail
AW- Arriva Trains Wales
CC- c2c
XC- CrossCountry
EM- East Midlands Trains
ES- Eurostar
HT- Hull Trains
TP- TransPennine Express
GC- Grand Central
GW- Great Western Railway
HC- Heathrow Connect
HX- Heathrow Express
LM- London Midland
LO- London Overground
ME- Merseyrail
NT- Northern
SE- Southeastern
SN- Southern
TL- Thameslink
GN- Great Northern
SW- South West Trains
XR- Tfl Rail (Crossrail)
VT- Virgin Trains West Coast
GR- Virgin Trains East Coast
ATOC- Association of Train Operating Companies

Any contributions/corrections welcome. If you have your own personal abbreviations that you use commonly for rail terms, please post here to make everything easy for everybody!

(PS, my source for the above was Wikipedia so some may be incorrect...)

 

[PHILIPE]

There is a thread here which was running before you joined the Forum;-

www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?=129235]

 

[J-2739]

Link is broken though

 

[Clip]

www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?=129235

Thats the link, however no one really has time to go to that thread every time someone uses and abbreviation so its always best to state it in full before using them

 

[najaB]

Link is broken though

Try this one.
Or this one
Or this one
Perhaps this one

 

[hairyhandedfool]

I believe this thread is the one that was intended, though there have been others.

A google search for "railway acronyms site:www.railforums.co.uk" or "railway abbreviations site:www.railforums.co.uk" should show up some of the others.

 

[bb21]

We don't maintain such a thread as we don't have the manpower to do so.

Are you volunteering to maintain it OP?

 

[J-2739]

We don't maintain such a thread as we don't have the manpower to do so.

Are you volunteering to maintain it OP?

No problem sir

I meant it as more of a generic thread bringing all railway abbreviations to one melting pot. Also, if people have their own personal abbreviations that they wish to use more often but no one understands it, they can post the meaning here.

 

[greaterwest]

You should add :
LT- London Underground
WR- West Coast Railway Company

 

[90019]

I meant it as more of a generic thread bringing all railway abbreviations to one melting pot. Also, if people have their own personal abbreviations that they wish to use more often but no one understands it, they can post the meaning here.

So we can have multiple meanings for certain acronyms?
It's easier if people just explain what they mean rather than using their own personal jargon.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

You should add :
LT- London Underground
WR- West Coast Railway Company

Surely West Coast Railway Company is better represented by WCRC (or WCR), as used by most people?

 

[krus_aragon]

We don't maintain such a thread as we don't have the manpower to do so.

Are you volunteering to maintain it OP?

I can't speak for the OP, but my previous offer to compile and maintain such a list (with input form other users) still stands. (My current list stretches to ~200 acronyms and explanations.)

 

[pdeaves]

Little plug: http://www.railwaycodes.org.uk also has lots of stuff that may be helpful.

 

[terryc]

No problem sir

I meant it as more of a generic thread bringing all railway abbreviations to one melting pot. Also, if people have their own personal abbreviations that they wish to use more often but no one understands it, they can post the meaning here.

Great idea!
If then the thread could be made a 'sticky' for quick reference, even better.

 

[Domh245]

So we can have multiple meanings for certain acronyms?
It's easier if people just explain what they mean rather than using their own personal jargon.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Surely West Coast Railway Company is better represented by WCRC (or WCR), as used by most people?

Perhaps, but WR is the 2 character code for them, just as TfL Rail's is XR, and VTEC's is GR

 

[J-2739]

Main Line Terms:

GWML- Great Western Main Line
GEML- Great Eastern Main Line
SWML- South West Main Line
ECML- East Coast Main Line
WCML- West Coast Main Line

Any healthy contributions welcome!

 

[snowball]

So we can have multiple meanings for certain acronyms?

Multiple meanings are unavoidable. S&C , for example, can mean Switch and Crossing or Settle and Carlisle.

 

[greaterwest]

Forgot a TOC:
GX- Gatwick Express

A few random ones which came to mind:
TVM- Ticket Vending Machine
MOM- Mobile Operations Manager
DfT- Department for Transport
ROSCO- Rolling Stock Operating Company
HST- High Speed Train
RPI- Revenue Protection Inspector
PF- Penalty Fare

 

[cjmillsnun]

Forgot a TOC:
GX- Gatwick Express

A few random ones which came to mind:
TVM- Ticket Vending Machine
MOM- Mobile Operations Manager
DfT- Department for Transport
ROSCO- Rolling Stock Operating Company
HST- High Speed Train
RPI- Revenue Protection Inspector
PF- Penalty Fare

One would argue that Southern and Gatwick Express are not TOCs. They are part of Govia Thameslink Railway.

 

[HowardGWR]

What amuses me is that article writers use the discipline of explaining an acronym in brackets (typically in Modern Railways) and then no longer use it in the article. It makes the effort seem a waste of text. Just don't use the acronym after reviewing one's text.

Note to OP -you forgot NR, the most important of all.

 

[dosxuk]

So is the idea that when someone uses an acronym in a thread, we have to come here, browse through multiple pages until we find the matching acronym, and in the case of multiple matches, guess which one they meant (BNS - is that Birmingham New Street or Barnes, NR - Northern Rail or Network Rail)?

And this is supposed to be easier than the poster just stating what they mean in the first place?

 

[43096]

What amuses me is that article writers use the discipline of explaining an acronym in brackets (typically in Modern Railways) and then no longer use it in the article. It makes the effort seem a waste of text. Just don't use the acronym after reviewing one's text.

Or the opposite, where a load of acronyms are used with no explanation.

There's a piece on the Class 92 modifications in Today's Railways that lists what has been done to them, but has no explanation of the acronyms used. They are not common ones either, being technical and/or specific to Class 92. In my view, that is a pretty appalling piece of journalism either for not including them or for not asking the question of Brush or GBRf as to what they are.

 

[J-2739]

So is the idea that when someone uses an acronym in a thread, we have to come here, browse through multiple pages until we find the matching acronym, and in the case of multiple matches, guess which one they meant (BNS - is that Birmingham New Street or Barnes, NR - Northern Rail or Network Rail)?

And this is supposed to be easier than the poster just stating what they mean in the first place?

I know this is contradictory to my first post, but who uses NR for Northern? Obviously, people will make differences.

I was thinking this thread could be stuck for references sake.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Forgot a TOC:
GX- Gatwick Express

A few random ones which came to mind:
TVM- Ticket Vending Machine
MOM- Mobile Operations Manager
DfT- Department for Transport
ROSCO- Rolling Stock Operating Company
HST- High Speed Train
RPI- Revenue Protection Inspector
PF- Penalty Fare

Note to OP -you forgot NR, the most important of all.

Ok, thanks for the contributions!

 

[Senex]

Forgot a TOC:
GX- Gatwick Express

A few random ones which came to mind:
TVM- Ticket Vending Machine
MOM- Mobile Operations Manager
DfT- Department for Transport
ROSCO- Rolling Stock Operating Company
HST- High Speed Train
RPI- Revenue Protection Inspector
PF- Penalty Fare

TVM for me means a signalling system (transmission voie machine) as used on all French high-speed lines and on HS1 in this country.

 

[Trog]

text.

Note to OP -you forgot NR, the most important of all.

:cry:

BR Before Railtrack.

 

[najaB]

I know this is contradictory to my first post, but who uses NR for Northern? Obviously, people will make differences.

No idea. Their code is NT.



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[90019]

Multiple meanings are unavoidable. S&C , for example, can mean Switch and Crossing or Settle and Carlisle.

Thats exactly my point.
Rather than a list you have to trawl through, including possible multiple meanings, the person using the acronym could just type it out the first time, making life simpler for everyone for minimal effort.

 

[dosxuk]

I know this is contradictory to my first post, but who uses NR for Northern? Obviously, people will make differences.

How about National Rail then? That's regularly used even on this site.

No idea. Their code is NT.

Well Abellio Greater Anglia's code is LE and I don't see many people using that instead of the company's initials, not even in the OP, and I'm yet to see anyone using XR.

 

[Clip]

No idea. Their code is NT.



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Quite a few people do when they are talking in a thread already about Northern.

 

[johnr57]

How about National Rail then? That's regularly used even on this site.







Well Abellio Greater Anglia's code is LE and I don't see many people using that instead of the company's initials, not even in the OP, and I'm yet to see anyone using XR.

And of course VTEC = GR


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--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

And of course VTEC = GR


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Which gives me an interesting idea for a new thread

Acronyms that bear no relation to what they stand for !


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[najaB]

Which gives me an interesting idea for a new thread

Acronyms that bear no relation to what they stand for !

Except, of course, GR does bear a relationship to what it stands for GNER.