TEL TSI eCN and eFTI: what actually overlaps
Freight RUs building the TEL TSI electronic consignment note hear about eFTI's 9 July 2027 date and read it as their own deadline. It is not. Here is what the two systems share, where they part, and which dates actually bind a freight RU.
Is 9 July 2027 a TEL TSI deadline?
No. 9 July 2027 is an eFTI date, and it binds competent authorities, not freight railway undertakings. From that day, authorities must accept regulatory information sent electronically through a certified eFTI platform. An operator stays free to keep paper: Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2020/1056 applies only once an operator chooses to send the information electronically.
- eFTI · authorities must accept
9 Jul 2027 - TEL TSI · freight common specification30 Sep 2027
- TEL TSI · freight core bundle, eCN included9 Dec 2029
The two systems, side by side
| TEL TSI | eFTI | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it obliges | The freight (lead) railway undertaking | Competent authorities; operator use stays voluntary |
| Key dates | 30 Sep 2027, then 9 Dec 2029 | 9 Jul 2027 (the authorities' acceptance duty) |
| Core artefact | The electronic consignment note (eCN) | Regulatory information through a certified platform |
| Data world | Rail operational data | Multimodal regulatory data |
Article 16(1) points the same way. It asks the European Commission to evaluate, by 21 February 2029, whether operators should be obliged to use eFTI at all. A regulation does not schedule a future decision to create a duty that already exists, so the duty on operators does not exist yet.
Same facts, different structures
The two systems need many of the same facts. A freight RU that assembles an eCN already holds most of what an eFTI submission would carry for the same movement.
TEL TSI eCN
Organised around the wagon and the train (UIC RailData ORFEUS ECN XML).
Wagon numbers · train composition · brake data · interchange times
Shared facts
- Consignor
- Consignee
- Places
- Goods
- Gross mass
- Dangerous-goods data
eFTI data set
Organised around the consignment (UN/CEFACT MMT-RDM).
Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/2024
Where they do not
The eCN comes from the TAF/TAP TSI message family, the UIC RailData ORFEUS ECN v1.6 XML schema. UNECE's own work on mapping rail data to the UN/CEFACT model found that a full, automated conversion is not achievable: the structures do not line up cleanly, and the code lists differ, since the eCN uses NHM/ETSNG classifications. Much of what the eCN carries the eFTI data set never needs.
What "build once, serve both" really means
Building the eCN does not make a freight RU "eFTI-compliant", because there is no such status to hold. The eCN is a head start on eFTI, not a substitute for it. Using the facts for eFTI still needs a mapping step between the two schemas, plus the layer that only a certified platform supplies.
Work to the TEL TSI dates, and treat eFTI as a route to plan for, not a deadline to meet.
An "eFTI platform" is a regulated category under Articles 11-13 of Regulation (EU) 2020/1056, and so is an "eFTI service provider". A platform must be certified by a Conformity Assessment Body, and information sent through it carries a certification mark under Article 12(3). Preparing or mapping eCN data, the work a compliance tool does, never enters that category. Nothing here should be read as a claim that the product holds eFTI status.
- Prepare the eCN to the TEL TSI dates: the freight common specification by 30 September 2027 (the Article 21(4) deadline), then the freight core bundle, eCN included, by 9 December 2029.
- Gather the consignment facts once, so the same data can feed an eFTI submission later if you choose that route.
- Treat a certified eFTI platform as the source of eFTI status. The eCN work does not provide it.
9 July 2027 is not one of them. It is the day competent authorities must be ready to accept what an operator may choose to send. The dates that bind a freight RU come from the TEL TSI, and the Companion tracks each one with its citation.
Sources: Regulation (EU) 2020/1056, Arts. 4-5, 11-13, 12(3), 16(1); Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/2024; Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/253; Directive (EU) 2016/797; Directive 2008/68/EC; Council Regulation No 11.
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