The Modular Rule Book
Until 1996 there was a single Rule Book which applied to all. This meant that certain grades possessed a publication of only a small part was applicable to the tasks they carried out. In an effort to resolve this, the personalised Rule Book was developed for generic groups of staff such as driver, signaller, passenger guard, person in charge of train operations, etc.
The rail industry had changed considerably in the few years after the personalised Rule Book was issued, mainly due to privatisation and the greater flexibility of roles within the newly formed companies. This resulted in some jobs requiring an individual to be issued with more than one personalised Rule Book to cover all the activities applicable to their work.
This was resolved by the introduction of the Modular Rule Book where employers could select from a suite of modules the particular task instructions applicable to the role of their staff. The Rule Book is made up of modules (A5) and handbooks (A6), containing task based instructions and a module specifically to publish small amounts of changes to the Rule Book that do not justify the reissue of the module concerned.
Changes to modules
Changes to national operations publications are issued in three ways, as extracts through GE/RT8001, Changes to national operating publications, GE/RT8000/AM, Amendments module or by reissuing the particular module or handbook. Rules changes are generally published twice a year with the amendments coming into force in the first Saturday of either June or December.
(last updated: March 2012)
Click on the module icon above for a matrix containing guidance on the what modules are likely to be applicable to typical roles within the railway industry.
Click on the module icon above for a list of each Rule Book document group (module, handbook, operational forms and associated documents).