Frequently Asked Questions

How do Railway Group Standards differ from British Standards?

Railway Group Standards are rail industry specific standards which contain mandatory requirements in the areas of interface/co-operation between Infrastructure Managers and Railway Undertakings. Within each standard, the responsibility for which party needs to deliver each requirement is clearly identified. For example, the infrastructure manager is identified as being the company responsible for installation and maintenance of signals. The mandatory nature of Railway Group Standards arises through the Licence conditions imposed on railway companies under the Railway (Licensing of Railway Undertakings) Regulations 2005.

British Standards are not mandatory and are usually applied either through the terms of a contract or by stating an intention to use them in a relevant internal company procedure. They contain specific technical and structural design requirements, but do not identify who is responsible for implementing them.

There are a number of other very significant standards which impact on the railways, such as Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs), Euronorms, and the company standards that Network Rail control.