Certificate in Railway Control Engineering Fundamentals (Module A)

The syllabus for the Certificate in Railway Control Engineering Fundamentals (module A) is available in the reading list.

Questions will cover all 10 learning objectives:

1. Operations: how a railway is operated to provide a safe and reliable service
2. Technical principles: railway control and communications philosophy and high level principles
3. Safety principles: safety engineering principles as applicable to a railway
4. Technical functions: the basic concepts of railway signalling and control systems
5. Applications: the functionality and potential limitations of various types of signalling, telecommunications and control equipment
6. Lifecycle: the basic concepts of system lifecycle
7. Maintenance: how maintenance, inspection and testing keep the railway safe and reliable
8. Integrity: the basic concepts of design of fail-safe hardware and high-integrity software
9. No longer in syllabus but some content transferred to learning objective 6 - Governance
10. Technical interfaces: the interfaces and interactions between railway control and communications and related systems within the railway and stakeholders
11. External interfaces: the role of railway control and communications in functions other than the control of train movement

All IRSE exams are closed book, which means that candidates should not have anything open in their exam environment which could assist them in their exam. This includes, but is not limited to, having social media and other apps / programmes open on their computer, having study guides and information open and communicating with other candidates.

All exam candidates will be monitored by remote invigilation software and answers for modules B, C and D will be reviewed by anti-plagiarism software.

Previous exam papers for the Certificate are not published. 

Candidates, however, are given access to an online practice paper when they have applied to sit the module.

Sample questions and answers are available, see our reading list page and watch the IRSE Younger Member study sessions on our dedicated Vimeo page https://vimeo.com/showcase/study

All documents within the essential reading list are available on our reading list page, available to IRSE members and non-members.

Other support materials for the Certificate in Railway Control Engineering Fundamentals (Module A) are in the document library below.

Many study videos are also available on IRSE's Vimeo channel via https://vimeo.com/showcase/study.

There are no prerequisites to sit the Certificate in Railway Control Engineering Fundamentals (module A). IRSE members and non-members are encouraged to study for, and to sit, the module.

The Certificate can be sat twice a year, in March (bookings normally open in the January) and early October (bookings normally open in the May / June). This year's exam will be on the 5th of October and the price to book is £135.

Bookings for the October exam are now open and will close on the 16th August, please click the green hyperlink found at the top of the page.

Candidate guides (in the document library below) will give further details on booking information, terms and conditions and more.

Education and Development Committee have agreed that there will be no exam centres, with all exam candidates sitting the exam at a suitable location for them. Candidates will need a computer or laptop and a reliable internet connection which can access the exam website and software. Candidates will be given access to practice sessions to ensure that this works for them (see terms and conditions in document library below).

Candidates are reminded that all IRSE exams are closed book exams and that they will be monitored by remote invigilation software.

The following feedback was given at the exam review in March 2024 which is relevant to all Certificate candidates and perspective candidates

• Revise the areas you don't know about
• Don't think about the question too deeply
• If you are stuck, move onto the next question(s), and if you have time come back to that question(s)

Watch the full review on the IRSE Exam Study Resources Vimeo channel