Universal Signalling Ltd , a leading railway signalling company, and the team behind Ferrocene , the quality-assured, safety-qualified Rust toolchain, today announced a collaboration to develop the first certification package for Rust in the railway industry, compliant with EN 50716. The aim is to establish a certification pathway for the use of the Rust programming language in safety-critical railway applications.
Universal Signalling was founded in 2022 with the goal of bringing about a fundamental shift in the performance of digital railway signaling products through novel architectures and approaches. This unique approach enables implementation within days – instead of the decades typically required in the railway industry.
Universal Signalling’s products are primarily developed in Rust and utilize QNX OS for Safety (QOS). The Ferrocene team will provide a Rust integration layer that enables Universal Signalling’s applications to access QNX functionalities. Ferrocene will also provide the qualification documentation for the Ferrocene toolchain and the necessary libraries to support the development and certification of the company’s high-security software according to EN 50716. The qualification package, including all required certification documentation, is scheduled for delivery in an upcoming Ferrocene release. The resulting certification package will contain all the necessary elements to enable the first Rust-based railway product to achieve certification.
Dr. Nicholas Wright, CTO of Universal Signalling, explained: “Rust’s unique characteristics make it the obvious choice for safety-critical railway applications – but without proper certification and qualification, it cannot be used in practice. Universal Signalling was founded to bring fundamental innovation to the railway signaling industry, and our partnership with the Ferrocene team is a prime example of this. Together, we are moving forward so that the railway industry can utilize the best tools available.”
“Railway signaling technology places some of the most stringent demands on software security and reliability, and Rust’s strong memory security features make it a natural choice,” said Felix Gilcher, Managing Director responsible for Ferrocene. “However, using Rust in this environment requires more than just the language itself: it requires a robust, qualified toolchain and the appropriate processes to support certification. We look forward to working with Universal Signalling to create this foundation and enable the use of Rust across the entire rail industry.”
About ferrocene
Ferrocene originated in 2019 at Ferrous Systems GmbH as an initiative to make Rust usable for safety- and mission-critical industries. This has evolved into a quality-assured, TÜV SÜD-certified open-source Rust toolchain.
Ferrocene is qualified for safety-oriented development according to ISO 26262 (ASIL D), IEC 61508 (SIL 3), and IEC 62304 (Class C), and supports customer certifications for SIL 4 and DO-178C (DAL C). A certified portion of the Rust ‘core’ library is also available for ISO 26262 (ASIL B) and IEC 61508 (SIL 2).
Ferrocene is provided under the MIT or Apache 2.0 licenses and supports a range of qualified target platforms, including Linux, QNX, Red Hat In-Vehicle Operating System, and bare-metal environments on various architectures such as Arm and x86-64; additional RTOS are available upon request. Regular requalifications allow customers to benefit from the latest Rust features, while the open-source qualification documentation provides transparency and flexibility in the development of safety-critical systems. Further information is available at www.ferrocene.dev .
About Universal Signalling
Universal Signalling is headquartered in Derby, the heart of the UK railway industry. The highly experienced team has worked globally for many years in railway engineering, operations, and product development, but grew increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of innovation and hesitant technology adoption in the industry. This motivated the team to establish their own company in 2022. Within just a few years, Universal Signalling secured contracts to install its innovative technology on over 160 kilometers of railway in Wales, won several innovation awards and industry accolades, and now receives inquiries from around the world. For more information, visit www.universalsignalling.com
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