This Body of Knowledge was produced in 2003 as part of the IRSE's commitment to promote for public benefit, the advancement of the science and practice of railway signalling* and telecommunications and to maintain high standards of practice and professional care amongst those working within the industry.
* The term 'signalling' as used within this Body of Knowledge includes signalling and railway / operational telecommunications in the context of train control, but has been shortened to 'signalling' to avoid repetition.
The structure of the document is shown below and the Body of Knowledge document can be accessed through the hyperlink or the document library below.
The IRSE recognises Professional Development as an integral part of its mission. In keeping with this, the IRSE Council has issued a Continuing Professional Development Policy, which states that all members, regardless of level of Engineering Council Registration, are expected to honour their professional obligation to take all reasonable steps to maintain and develop their professional competence.
This Body of Knowledge has therefore been produced to highlight the topics that the professional signalling engineer needs to be familiar with, to act as a guide to relevant competence standards, and source useful reference materials.
It is suggested that this Body of Knowledge be read, as a whole in the first instance, remembering that Railway Signalling is a specialist area of Railway Systems engineering. It is therefore important to consider the interfaces between topics, and consider the overlapping and adjoining areas, rather than try to deal with each topic in isolation. Many of the topics are closely linked or interdependent, but have been grouped into the stages of the engineering lifecycle for clarity.
You are reminded that this Body of Knowledge was published in 2003 and therefore some references will not be up-to-date.