A method for locating a railway vehicle (12, 14) on a railway system on which the railway vehicle is traveling, the method comprising the following steps: - determining a primary location of the vehicle by means of beacons placed along the track and an antenna placed on the railway vehicle and an odometry system, - determining a secondary location independent from the primary location, and comprising the following steps: - providing a plurality of first devices, the first devices being RFID tags or RFID readers, the first devices being distributed over the system, - providing at least one second device on the railway vehicle (12, 14), the second device being an RFID reader, the first devices then being RFID tags, or an RFID tag, the first devices then being RFID readers, - travel of the railway vehicle (12, 14) over the system, - detecting at least one RFID tag from among the first and second device (18, 22) via a corresponding RFID reader from among the first and second device (18, 22), and - determining the position of the railway vehicle (12, 14) within the system based on the RFID tag detection, the detection of the RFID tag is done when this RFID tag is spaced from the RFID reader by a distance smaller than a given distance, the given distance being smaller than a maximum distance for which a reception level of a signal emitted by the RFID tag and detected by the RFID reader is substantially equal to the reception level of a thermal noise due to the railway vehicle, the second location being adapted to replace the primary location when the railway vehicle is operating in a downgraded operating mode in which the determination of the primary location no longer works. - determining a primary location of the vehicle by means of beacons placed along the track and an antenna placed on the railway vehicle and an odometry system, - determining a secondary location independent from the primary location, and comprising the following steps: - providing a plurality of first devices, the first devices being RFID tags or RFID readers, the first devices being distributed over the system, - providing at least one second device on the railway vehicle (12, 14), the second device being an RFID reader, the first devices then being RFID tags, or an RFID tag, the first devices then being RFID readers, - travel of the railway vehicle (12, 14) over the system, - detecting at least one RFID tag from among the first and second device (18, 22) via a corresponding RFID reader from among the first and second device (18, 22), and - determining the position of the railway vehicle (12, 14) within the system based on the RFID tag detection, the detection of the RFID tag is done when this RFID tag is spaced from the RFID reader by a distance smaller than a given distance, the given distance being smaller than a maximum distance for which a reception level of a signal emitted by the RFID tag and detected by the RFID reader is substantially equal to the reception level of a thermal noise due to the railway vehicle, the second location being adapted to replace the primary location when the railway vehicle is operating in a downgraded operating mode in which the determination of the primary location no longer works. - providing a plurality of first devices, the first devices being RFID tags or RFID readers, the first devices being distributed over the system, - providing at least one second device on the railway vehicle (12, 14), the second device being an RFID reader, the first devices then being RFID tags, or an RFID tag, the first devices then being RFID readers, - travel of the railway vehicle (12, 14) over the system, - detecting at least one RFID tag from among the first and second device (18, 22) via a corresponding RFID reader from among the first and second device (18, 22), and - determining the position of the railway vehicle (12, 14) within the system based on the RFID tag detection, the detection of the RFID tag is done when this RFID tag is spaced from the RFID reader by a distance smaller than a given distance, the given distance being smaller than a maximum distance for which a reception level of a signal emitted by the RFID tag and detected by the RFID reader is substantially equal to the reception level of a thermal noise due to the railway vehicle, the second location being adapted to replace the primary location when the railway vehicle is operating in a downgraded operating mode in which the determination of the primary location no longer works.