SPARK provides the rail industry with a collective corporate memory, with the ability to access, amplify, and enhance that memory together.

The heart of SPARK is a library containing a mass of information on many different aspects of the railway.  This knowledge is organised as ‘records’ which can be created, added to, accessed, rated and commented on.  These records will relate to:

• Publications - These include conference papers, presentations, and footage – like podcasts and other audio and visual material.
  
• Research projects - This includes details of any past, present and planned research of interest to the rail industry, from sources including individual companies, universities, non-rail research, and international research, as well as the projects from the cross-industry programme managed by RSSB on industry’s behalf.
  
• Initiatives - Initiatives include projects and/or activities that serve as a focal point to accomplish something that benefits the rail industry either directly, such as reducing costs, or indirectly, such as the development of strategies and policies.  Initiatives often provide the context of the day to day work that industry undertakes and can trigger the need for new solutions, or are themselves taking forward the outputs from previous innovations.
  
• Data sources - This includes sources of quantitative information that are collected and updated regularly or have been captured during the course of a research project or initiative.
  
• Centres of expertise - This includes departments or teams at research institutes, universities, public / private companies or other organisations which are known to have high standards of achievement in a particular area of expertise that is relevant to the rail industry.
  
• Test facilities - This includes test tracks and other unique, customised test equipment or facilities.

These records are managed and presented in such a way that makes it possible for users to navigate through menus or search with free text from scratch (like on Google), and filter results.