Bringing Rust to Safety-Critical Railway Signaling
Jessie
September 29th, 2026
Universal Signalling selects Ferrocene to develop the first Rust-based railway certification package
The collaboration will enable the use of qualified Rust tooling for safety-critical railway applications under EN 50716
DERBY, England, and BERLIN, Sept. 29, 2026 — Universal Signalling Ltd, a leading railway signaling company, and the team behind Ferrocene, the quality-managed, safety-qualified Rust toolchain, today announced a collaboration to develop the first railway certification package for Rust in compliance with EN 50716. The goal is to establish a certification pathway for using the Rust programming language in safety-critical railway applications.
Universal Signalling was founded in 2022, with the aim of bringing a step change in the performance of digital railway signaling products, using novel architectures and approaches to projects. Those unique approaches allow delivery in days, rather than the decades that the rail industry has become accustomed to.
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 to enable Universal Signalling’s applications to access QNX functionality. They will also provide qualification materials for the Ferrocene toolchain and required libraries to support the development and certification of the company's high-assurance software under EN 50716. The qualification package, including all required certification materials, is expected to be delivered in an upcoming Ferrocene release. The resulting certification package will include all the necessary elements to enable the first Rust-based railway product to achieve certification.
Dr. Nicholas Wright, CTO of Universal Signalling, commented: “Rust’s unique features make it the obvious choice for railway safety applications, but without adequate certification and qualification, it cannot be deployed in real-world applications. Universal Signalling was founded to bring step-change innovation to the railway signalling industry, and our partnership with the Ferrocene team is a prime example of that. Together, we are leading the way in ensuring the Railway can utilise the best tools for the job.”
“Railway signaling has some of the most stringent requirements for software safety and reliability, and Rust’s strong memory-safety properties make it a natural fit,” said Felix Gilcher, Managing Director responsible for Ferrocene. “But using Rust in this environment goes beyond the language itself: it requires a robust, qualified toolchain and the processes to support certification. We look forward to working with Universal Signalling to build that foundation and enable the use of Rust across the railway industry.”
A toast to a new collaboration! Felix Gilcher, Managing Director responsible for Ferrocene, and Stephen Head, Chief Executive Officer of Universal Signalling, celebrate their partnership to develop the first Rust-based railway certification package.