British railway technical manuals

A copy of the 2002 edition of the National Routeing Guide

The railway network of Great Britain is operated with the aid of a number of documents, which have been sometimes termed "technical manuals",^[1] because they are more detailed than the pocket-timetables which the public encounters every day. Historically, they were classified PRIVATE and not for publication, however since rail privatisation they are now more widely available, mostly in digital form, because they are produced centrally and not by the regional rail operators.

Documents of relevance to the customer

and distributed by National Rail Enquiries:

A copy of the 1996/1997 edition (No. 64) of the National Fares Manual (South area)

• The National Rail Conditions of Carriage, which set out the customer's rights and responsibilities when travelling on the National Rail network [1]. Every ticket purchased is a contract, and this document is the terms of that contract. It is produced by the Rail Settlement Plan, part of the ATOC.
• National Fares Manual, which contains all available fares on the network, primarily of use for tracking cheaper ticket combinations. This is now published by TSO (formerly The Stationery Office) as a CD-ROM, rather than as a set of printed manuals. [2]
• The Rail Links Manual. As separate to the above, for combined rail and bus/ferry fares. [3]^{[dead link]}

and produced by the ATOC:

ATOC is a body which represents 26 train operating companies that provide passenger railway services

• The National Routeing Guide, which defines which tickets are valid on which routes[4]. It is noted as being a particularly complex document to negotiate, one blogger stating I can only look at the NRG for about 10 minutes without going insane"^[2]

and produced by Network Rail:

Network Rail owns and operates Britain's rail infrastructure^[3]

• The National Rail Timetable. This was available to the public in printed form until May 2007, and is now available from Network Rail in PDF format only. [5]

and produced by The Stationery Office with permission from Network Rail:

• UK Rail Timetable, published from December 2007. This timetable is named "UK" but only covers the National Rail Network of Great Britain and not Northern Ireland. New editions are normally published every Spring and Autumn. [6]

Documents which relate solely to the operation of the network

Also by Network Rail

• Train Planning Rules[7]. Used by those who plan the logistics of operating the network

Documents produced by the ORR (formerly the Rail Regulator):

• Railway Safety Principles and Guidance ("The Blue Book"). [8]

Documents produced by the Rail Safety and Standards Board:[9]

• British Railway Rule Book [10]. Full details of operating practices.

• Railway Group Standards and Network Rail Line Standards [11]. Primarily of use for design.

• ORR also produce a document Guidance on Infrastructure [12]

• There are also the railway by-laws, which exist under the Transport Act 2000. [13].

Footnotes

1. ^ National Rail Enquiries calls them this on their website, referring to the NRCoC in particular
2. ^ Get On, Clip In, Fall Off: So what's permitted anyway?
3. ^ Network Rail - Home

External links

• Railway Bylaws on the Department for Transport website

See also

• Rail transport in the United Kingdom
• Sectional Appendix