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RSSB Rule Book App log-in.

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D6130

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A driver friend of mine is trying to install the RSSB Rule Book App on his smartphone, but can't get the log-in to work. Another driver he has spoken to told him that it took him a year to get onto it. Does anyone on here know an alternative log-in address which actually works? Thanking you in anticipation.
 
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ComUtoR

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I use my work email, never had a problem.

Try and create an email on the RSSB website rather than via the app.
 

Horizon22

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Fairly sure you can get a log-on via your TOC. Should just be your work email address. As @ComUtoR says the website works fine for me.
 

JLX5

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Fairly sure you can get a log-on via your TOC. Should just be your work email address. As @ComUtoR says the website works fine for me.
I might be wrong, but I believe that your TOC specifically needs to allow you to use the Rule Book app otherwise the app will not allow you to use it.

EDIT: It appears the TOC actually needs to sign up for the app for any employees to be able to use it so if they haven't you won't be able to.
 
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skyhigh

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EDIT: It appears the TOC actually needs to sign up for the app for any employees to be able to use it so if they haven't you won't be able to.
Yes the TOC has to pay for staff access. If the OP is referring to Northern employees, they don't have access.
 

Horizon22

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I might be wrong, but I believe that your TOC specifically needs to allow you to use the Rule Book app otherwise the app will not allow you to use it.

EDIT: It appears the TOC actually needs to sign up for the app for any employees to be able to use it so if they haven't you won't be able to.

Yes when I said via your TOC, I was assuming it was one that had access!
 
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Driver2B

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Regarding the Rule Book App on my smartphone, I was unable to register with this. Apparently my TOC don't subscribe to this. In my opinion, the RSSB's primary responsibility should be towards safety and not finances. It totally does not seem right that the RSSB refuses drivers who are willing and eager to improve their own development, and are keen to avoid incidents, access to their resources.

Regarding registering to the RSSB website, I accurately claimed that I was a driver for my TOC and was given a login for this. Some other drivers at my TOC have been denied the same.

Regarding RSSB Opsweb (which is a separate login), apparently this is available to drivers of my TOC who have a corporate e-mail address, but not to drivers who don't have a corporate e-mail address.

It's absolutely ridiculous that the RSSB Red videos are urging drivers to subscribe to Opsweb, and the RSSB should be ensuring that safety is their highest priority (it's in their name!) but are refusing drivers access to the resources that they are urging us to use based simply on the fact that we are not provided with a corporate e-mail address (because we're drivers and not office staff)! I have provided my full name, address, nationional insurance number, employer, pay number and driver licence number to the RSSB so there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that I am a driver (and I have provided them with my permission to share those details with my employer and the ORR for the purpose of verifying them), and I am in the group of people who they are urging to access their resources - but they still refuse!

It seems to me that while the RSSB refuse access to their resources from keen and conciensious drivers, they really are not fit for purpose.
 

Highlandspring

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Regarding the Rule Book App on my smartphone, I was unable to register with this. Apparently my TOC don't subscribe to this.

If it’s any consolation, when the same question was asked on Network Rail’s internal social media platform it was said that NR has only been granted around 400 corporate user licences for the Rule Book app for a workforce of 39000 and apparently RSSB charges NR over £1000 per licence. So the vast majority of NR staff can’t access it either.

To be honest you’re not missing much by not being able to access Opsweb.
 

Driver2B

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If it’s any consolation, when the same question was asked on Network Rail’s internal social media platform it was said that NR has only been granted around 400 corporate user licences for the Rule Book app for a workforce of 39000 and apparently RSSB charges NR over £1000 per licence. So the vast majority of NR staff can’t access it either.

To be honest you’re not missing much by not being able to access Opsweb.

Thank you, @Highlandspring, for your message.

Unfortunately, hearing about the large number of Network Rail staff who do not have access is not any consolation, but just even more concerning.

I'm sure that I'm not missing much, and I'm sure that the most important stuff does get filtered down to us eventually, but sometimes we do get asked "Have you seen the video about ...?" and I'm one of the few who have! I am diligent, responsible and take my job seriously. I am very happy to use my own time to reflect on incidents, reports, etc. and consider how my own practice could improve. I am just surprised that the RSSB deny keen and enthusiastic drivers opportunities for self-driven professional development (while simultaneously urging drivers to watch the videos which they refuse to provide).

I understand that the RSSB is a non-profit company, but it seems to me that they should be funded in such a way (whether by DfT, or by TOCs, FOCs, NR, ROSCOs, etc.) that every safety critical person is provided with the resources relevant to them. Providing information only to employees of TOCs who subscribe, or TOCs who provide operational employees with e-mail addresses, etc. seems to devalue what they do provide - if it's so important, why not provide to all?!

Anyway, I do appreciate that the issues are industry-wide, and I hope the some solution is found to solve them.
 

Six Bells

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If it’s any consolation, when the same question was asked on Network Rail’s internal social media platform it was said that NR has only been granted around 400 corporate user licences for the Rule Book app for a workforce of 39000 and apparently RSSB charges NR over £1000 per licence. So the vast majority of NR staff can’t access it either.

To be honest you’re not missing much by not being able to access Opsweb.

Was just about to say the same; I'm a signaller and attempted to login to the Rule Book app, kept getting knocked back with a "Licence issue at your organisation" Tried a few times but then asked a colleague who told me the reason why. I just stick to my printed modules now!

As an aside, how do people organise their Rule Books? I invested in some A6 dividers, placed before the modules that I found myself consulting most often (S5, TS9 etc) with some hand written notes at the front of folder 1 for the less common / unusual scenarios that have cropped up when I have been in the box.
 

alxndr

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If it’s any consolation, when the same question was asked on Network Rail’s internal social media platform it was said that NR has only been granted around 400 corporate user licences for the Rule Book app for a workforce of 39000 and apparently RSSB charges NR over £1000 per licence. So the vast majority of NR staff can’t access it either.

To be honest you’re not missing much by not being able to access Opsweb.
Crikey, I'm one of the select few who have a login then, and that's presumably more because I got in early than being anyone important as I'm very much not.

No wonder I'm the only person I know who has access...
 

martin2345uk

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My FOC has licences for all its drivers but I find the app annoying, it sometimes "refreshes" while you're in the middle of looking at a module, and when it does that it kicks you out to the main dashboard.
 

TheEdge

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Now I'm intrigued and going to have to see if I can get it to work on a personal device.

As an aside, how do people organise their Rule Books? I invested in some A6 dividers, placed before the modules that I found myself consulting most often (S5, TS9 etc) with some hand written notes at the front of folder 1 for the less common / unusual scenarios that have cropped up when I have been in the box.

When I was still getting my printed one I (as a driver) would take out the modules covering degraded working (TW5 etc) and keep them in my kitbag with the rest staying in order in the file elsewhere.
 

tiptoptaff

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My FOC has licences for all its drivers but I find the app annoying, it sometimes "refreshes" while you're in the middle of looking at a module, and when it does that it kicks you out to the main dashboard.
It's incredibly frustrating. It's not the most user-friendly app in the world. And even if you download the role-specific rule books it downloads a lot of stuff you don't need!

My TOC doesn't issue hard copy rulebooks any more. Which meant I was unable to annotate my rule book in any way whilst learning it
 

martin2345uk

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Yeah we weren’t given hard copies either - but I downloaded the PDF version of it from the RSSB website so I always have that on my phone/iPad. The app is good in that it auto updates with any amendments but I wouldn’t wanna rely on it, hence the pdf copy as a backup.
 

tiptoptaff

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Yeah we weren’t given hard copies either - but I downloaded the PDF version of it from the RSSB website so I always have that on my phone/iPad. The app is good in that it auto updates with any amendments but I wouldn’t wanna rely on it, hence the pdf copy as a backup.
It's not ideal. But I'd happily sit there and cause an extra 5or10minutes delay whilst I get on the app, it loads and I find what I'm looking for just to make a point
 

Highlandspring

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As an aside, how do people organise their Rule Books? I invested in some A6 dividers, placed before the modules that I found myself consulting most often (S5, TS9 etc) with some hand written notes at the front of folder 1 for the less common / unusual scenarios that have cropped up when I have been in the box.
RSSB actually do proper dividers marked up with the module series, ‘TS’ ’SS’ ‘TW’ ‘AC’ etc.. I’ve got them and they’ve pretty handy. Your LOM should be able to order them.
 

Horizon22

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I’ve also known companies to have their own internal systems / apps to which they “load” the modules onto via PDFs which I guess is a sort of substitute for the RSSB app.
 

ComUtoR

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Regarding registering to the RSSB website, I accurately claimed that I was a driver for my TOC and was given a login for this. Some other drivers at my TOC have been denied the same.

I've been a member for a long while. Everyone I recommended that they used it also never had problems. I wonder if there has been a recent change. The RSSB website was pretty open at one point and then it now required you to be logged in to read some of the articles and access most publications. Maybe there was something to prompt the change (non industry people using it) ? Everything else you say I totally agree with.


RSSB said:
If you already have an account for our website, or for SPARK, you can use these details to login to the Rule Book app, without the need to register


Now I'm intrigued and going to have to see if I can get it to work on a personal device.

Just checked my personal phone and didn't have any issues. Also checked the play store and its available.


apparently RSSB charges NR over £1000 per licence.

RSSB said:
Taking into account the reduction in costs involved in printing, storing and distributing the printed format updates, the per head savings across track workers, signallers, drivers and guards are, on average, £9.48 per user, per year. For track workers alone, the saving is over £900,000 a year, totalling £4.5m over the course of CP6. That’s not to mention the 83 tonnes of paper (or 2,200 trees) and the associated resources and pollutants involved in producing a paper version of the Rule Book on an annual basis.

Spend a Grand to save a Tenner.. Sounds like Railway Logic.
 

bouff34

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Regarding the Rule Book App on my smartphone, I was unable to register with this. Apparently my TOC don't subscribe to this. In my opinion, the RSSB's primary responsibility should be towards safety and not finances. It totally does not seem right that the RSSB refuses drivers who are willing and eager to improve their own development, and are keen to avoid incidents, access to their resources.

Regarding registering to the RSSB website, I accurately claimed that I was a driver for my TOC and was given a login for this. Some other drivers at my TOC have been denied the same.

Regarding RSSB Opsweb (which is a separate login), apparently this is available to drivers of my TOC who have a corporate e-mail address, but not to drivers who don't have a corporate e-mail address.

It's absolutely ridiculous that the RSSB Red videos are urging drivers to subscribe to Opsweb, and the RSSB should be ensuring that safety is their highest priority (it's in their name!) but are refusing drivers access to the resources that they are urging us to use based simply on the fact that we are not provided with a corporate e-mail address (because we're drivers and not office staff)! I have provided my full name, address, nationional insurance number, employer, pay number and driver licence number to the RSSB so there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that I am a driver (and I have provided them with my permission to share those details with my employer and the ORR for the purpose of verifying them), and I am in the group of people who they are urging to access their resources - but they still refuse!

It seems to me that while the RSSB refuse access to their resources from keen and conciensious drivers, they really are not fit for purpose.
Rather than criticise the RSSB surely the issue is that your TOC won't pay for the licences... if they did you would have access. Have you tried approaching your TOC?
 

Six Bells

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RSSB actually do proper dividers marked up with the module series, ‘TS’ ’SS’ ‘TW’ ‘AC’ etc.. I’ve got them and they’ve pretty handy. Your LOM should be able to order them.

Never knew that! Cheers for the info, I will ask him the next time he comes round.
 

357

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MTR Crossrail used to refuse to licence the app, and would tell people to download a PDF copy to add to iBooks on the company iPads.

Most people never bothered.
 

Railworker101

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A good thing to note for drivers who have access to RSSB is that you can search 'train driver manual' and you will find you can download a PDF document with every rule book module that is relevant for a driver.

The current issue is...

GERM8000-traindriver Iss 9.1​

In December this will be superceded by...

GERM8000-traindriver Iss 10​


On my Samsung S21/windows laptop... Unsure of Apple Products but I'm lead to believe are similar to this, anyway...

Once downloaded, open the document, on page 3 (I think) you will see a list of all the rule book modules within the document, you can tap on whichever document you require and it should take you straight to it.

If anyone is struggling with this, please give me a shout...

I find these a nice and easy 'get out of jail card' or, if I'm ever at a lose end I may read through a section or two, enjoy.
 

tlionhart

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It's not ideal. But I'd happily sit there and cause an extra 5or10minutes delay whilst I get on the app, it loads and I find what I'm looking for just to make a point
You wouldn’t be making any point, because that’s what you’re suppose to do. That also includes looking at route maps, notices, ARB, sectional apx and even Wons for clarification.
I’ve delayed many trains looking at my route maps and if asked regarding delay, concluded with “ah ok” and left alone.

The app is good, however my frustration is when you flick through the main pages and end up at the dashboard.
 

GB

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The app would have been developed and maintained by a 3rd party. Rightly or wrongly they will need paying which I presume is where the license fees come into play. Not having the app does not stop you getting the information elsewhere...either through your employer or via the *RSSB website. Just because there is an app available and would make it easier for you doesn't mean you should be automatically entitled to it.

*I don't know what the success rate is for people signing up with a personal email (presumably they are stricter on personal emails for security purposes) but if you do get through all the information is there which you can access from any internet connected device. Further more, just because someone is a driver doesn't mean they can't be issued with a company email, if your company is not issuing company emails that's on them, not the RSSB.
 

bouff34

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The app would have been developed and maintained by a 3rd party. Rightly or wrongly they will need paying which I presume is where the license fees come into play. Not having the app does not stop you getting the information elsewhere...either through your employer or via the *RSSB website. Just because there is an app available and would make it easier for you doesn't mean you should be automatically entitled to it.

*I don't know what the success rate is for people signing up with a personal email (presumably they are stricter on personal emails for security purposes) but if you do get through all the information is there which you can access from any internet connected device. Further more, just because someone is a driver doesn't mean they can't be issued with a company email, if your company is not issuing company emails that's on them, not the RSSB.
Exactly, blame the TOC for not paying for the licence not the RSSB who presumably have a limited budget and need to make the books balance.
 

357

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Exactly, blame the TOC for not paying for the licence not the RSSB who presumably have a limited budget and need to make the books balance.
Exactly. With my current TOC, they pay for a licence for everyone and we just register for it using our work email address (that everyone has) the @Xxxxx is whitelisted so we are automatically given access upon registration.
 
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