In this first of two papers the development of a shortened version of the Rail Ergonomics Questionnaire (REQUEST) is described. REQUEST has been designed to survey attitudes and opinions of railway workers on a range of human factors issues, with scales based on those used and validated elsewhere or else specially developed on the basis of studies of rail workers. Important characteristics of different roles, especially signallers, are outlined. The longer version of the questionnaire has already been used on a number of occasions for samples of 100-150. The shortened version was developed for the most recent administration of the survey to a large population. An expert group reviewed question wording, and the findings from the principal components analysis and other analyses of data from previous administrations of the survey. Improvements were made to the design and layout of the questionnaire. The effectiveness of the process for the expert review of questions is discussed. The survey was administered to high proportions of the target groups during the company safety briefing programme and achieved a sample size of almost 4000 respondents at an overall response rate of 83%. Findings from the REQUEST national survey are presented in a companion paper [Ryan, B., Wilson, J.R., Sharples, S., Clarke, T., 2008. Attitudes and opinions of railway signallers and related staff, using the Rail Ergonomics Questionnaire (REQUEST). Appl. Ergon., in press. doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2008.04.010].