This articles presents an overview of terminal railway regulation principles and implementation. It starts with the different elements of terminal infrastructure, how these elements were considered as essential facilities in various periods of railway development worldwide and what type of regulation patterns were implemented. The aim of the paper is to articulate terminal regulation principles and the transformative relationships between State, rail infrastructures, transport companies and other stakeholders. It details regulation conditions for terminals in Europe, with access conditions and pricing schemes for the 27 countries. The conclusions are that, along with slow and heterogeneous pathways to free and undiscriminated access to terminals in Europe, some terminal management entities follow an entrepreneurial pattern and strategically redefine their mission, taking the opportunity of their progressive autonomy from railway incumbents to develop side businesses such as retail activities and real estate in regulated or in non-regulated railway models. Mots clé Terminal regulation, passenger station regulation, station as essential facility, station traffic regulation, station security regulation, passenger station development, station megaproject, passenger station management, station pricing, station retail, passenger flow management