TIC

When commencing in the rail industry, it is mandatory to have a Rail Industry Worker (RIW) Card before you start work. This card is similar to a White Card in the construction industry which tracks all of your current (and expired) skills and qualifications.

FOR QUEENSLAND STUDENTS: You MUST have an RIW Card before enrolling into any Queensland Rail courses. See details below.

An RIW Card has a cost of $250.

Important links:

How do I get an RIW Card?

Apply now for an RIW Card

You will need to provide all of your basic contact information as well as an identification photo that meets the RIW standards.

For more assistance please contact RIW (not TICRail) directly on 1300 101 682.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR QUEENSLAND STUDENTS

On 1 June 2022 the RIW System Service Provider softly launched the new Rail Industry Worker Card Application Service Request, as well as updating the RIW Knowledge Centre article on How do I get a Rail Industry Worker card? 

What this means is that it will be easier for all learners to have access to obtain an RIW Card.

From 1 July 2022, this will now mandate the need for RIW cards prior to attending any Queensland Rail courses.

Visitors to the RIW website can access the article and link to the service request by clicking on the middle tile.

This advises potential rail industry workers that there are now two ways to obtain an RIW card; direct application or through their employer. 

With the direct approach, the applicant provides their core details, ID photo and pays $250+GST, which includes the cardholders first year annual subscription, the mandatory ID check (completed by the applicant), a physical RIW card posted to their address, a virtual RIW card issued to their smart device, and login credentials for myRIW, their online RIW portal.  

To assist with this service request, the cardholder is temporarily “employed” by Metro Trains Australia Pty Ltd, and at the completion of card issuance, the employment relationship is severed, thereby allowing the cardholder to seek employment elsewhere, or to use their RIW credentials to get “job ready”.  

At present the MTA Administrative Support Team are processing applications on the same day of receipt (on business days).  However, dependent on when the cardholder completes the ID check and subsequently verified by their identity verification service, there could be a number of days between application and card issuance. 

Benefits of direct application for an RIW Card

Potential rail industry workers are now able to get “job ready” by:

– Providing their RIW details to Training Providers / RTO’s so that competencies can be directly uploaded to their RIW profile. This also supports the upcoming change to network-based competencies being directly uploaded by RTO’s to cardholder’s profiles, if the RTO cannot provide back to source verification on their certificates.

– Providing their RIW details to an AHP, who may also directly upload a rail health assessment outcome to their RIW profile.

– Applying for jobs that require or have a desirable condition for an RIW card.

– Reducing the cost and administrative burden to employers; cardholders pay for their first year subscription, while MTA relieves the administrative burden of the new cardholder workflow including employment requests, ID check management and card issuance etc.