RSSB provides technical expertise to support the industry with its standards, in particular Railway Group Standards (RGS) and associated documents; and for supporting the industry’s input into the development of relevant European standards, including Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs).
This expertise also provides support to RSSB managed research and development (R&D) and to various industry stakeholder groups, including Industry Standards Coordination Committee, Standards Committees and System Interface Committees.
RSSB's technical expertise covers the principal railway subsystems (as they are recognised in the Interoperability Directive 2008/57/EC):
• Infrastructure (covering track, structures and stations)
• Rolling stock
• Control Command and Signalling
• Energy (covering electrification)
• Traffic Operation and Management
RSSB has particular expertise in a number of specialist areas. Further information and technical resources relating to these areas can be found on the following pages:
Human Factors
Human Factors is the discipline of optimising human performance in the workplace. It considers the working environment from a human-centred viewpoint looking at the whole system and its influence on the way people behave and interact with the railway.
RSSB's Human Factors team of ten specialists works to support the rail industry by providing expertise through technical input to research, the development of Railway Group Standards, supporting formal inquiries and the development of new systems such as ERTMS and GSM-R. More widely, the human factors team acts as a resource for the railway industry by helping companies to deal with their own human factors issues.
Workforce Development
Workforce Development (WD) is defined as those aspects of education and training, competence, accreditation, licensing and assessment having application to the railway workforce. Our key strategic aim is to actively develop and support innovation in WD within the GB rail industry.
We work with industry partners on strategic issues, particularly GoSkills (the Sector Skills Council for Passenger Transport), the Association of Railway Training Providers, and members of the Rail Industry Skills Forum (RISF). Much of our strategic work is also in the European context with the ERA and UIC. Most of our work, however, focuses on offering RSSB members practical advice in the area of workforce development.
ERTMS and GSM-R
In 2005, RSSB was invited to join the cross industry European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) project led by Network Rail to develop new rules and standards to aid the introduction of these new signalling communication technologies to the domestic railway. RSSB has established a project team for this work.
ERTMS is mandated through legislation and includes the provision of signalling information in the train cab and automatic train protection.
The Global System for Mobile Communications - Railways (GSM-R) supports more effective communication from cab to trackside.
Rule Book
The Rule Book, with over 100,000 people holding copies, is the Railway Group Standard that is most familiar to the industry. A team of RSSB technical specialists is solely devoted to dealing with all the issues surrounding its development and application.
Aerodynamics
RSSB provides technical expertise in the area of ‘Aerodynamics’, as well as providing advice and support on all relevant areas to the industry.