​Who can access SPARK?

 Anyone can register and access SPARK at the Reader’ level. If you have material to add to SPARK, you can apply to become a Contributor and, in return, will gain access to more content.

There are additional access levels for members of the International Rail Research Board and for RSSB members.

Who uses SPARK?

The SPARK community currently comprised of railway administrations (railway undertakings and infrastructure managers), universities and research institutions, suppliers, rolling stock owners, government bodies and others.
 
For information on individual SPARK users, go to the SPARK User Search.

SPARK visibility levels

 The following table shows the visibility levels that can be set for records or attachments within SPARK. It is possible to give different access levels for a record and any attachments.
 
Visibility level
Description
Visible to all SPARK users
 
 
 
The material is made searchable and visible to all users, including readers who can be anyone in the world.
Confidential to contributors
 
 
 
The material is made searchable and visible only to those who have Contributor-level or Member-level access.
 
Contributors are rail-related professionals and researchers that have agreed individually to contribute content to SPARK or employees of rail organisations that are corporately using SPARK to access and share information on rail research and innovation.
 
You can find out more about becoming a contributor here.
Confidential to Members
 
 
 
The material is made confidential to either employees IRRB (International Rail Research Board) member organisations or RSSB member organisations (including members of major British cross-industry groups).
 
Each of these membership groups have separate levels, allowing confidential sharing within each group.