01.01.12
The application of simulation
Source: Rail Technology Magazine Dec/Jan 2012
Malcolm Cook, simulator centre manager for ScotRail, and founder of the UK Rail Simulator User Group, talks to RTM about using simulation effectively.
Continual assessment is a way to ensure drivers retain the high standards necessary for rail and for simulators to remain useful, according to the simulator centre manager for ScotRail, Malcolm Cook.
Simulators have been in use in rail for a long time, but have become much more prominent across the network as their value has been increasingly recognised by train operators.
Traction-specific vs generic simulators
The differences between types of train are not so extreme as to necessitate multiple simulators, and generic simulators can replicate a certain group of traction types, yet these are often rejected in favour of traction-specific models. This can be due to the motivation to achieve maximum coverage of people who can gain the most from a traction specific simulator.
“We purchased class 334 and class 170 simulators, because that covered around 93% of all our drivers,” Cook explained.
He added: “I believe it was the right decision to buy traction-specific simulators for ScotRail. We walk into the cab and it is exactly the same as in a real train. All the switches work in exactly the same way, to create a very highly immersive environment for the driver.”
Replicating reality
There are three main companies in the UK that manufacture simulators; Sydac, an Australian company based in Derby, Corys TESS, and German company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann.
Cook said: “They have all produced very good simulators in the UK rail industry.”
Simulator assessment is often conducted by a driver team manager, but ScotRail’s approach involved investment in a specific centre staffed by permanent assessors. Six and a half hour assessments are conducted there four times a day, with the effective use of time and technology due to a mandatory competent management system that requires drivers to attend the simulator.
Cook explained: “That business model has driven the investment in our simulators. We have a bespoke centre; people turn up and we’re always here.”
For an experienced, fully qualified driver with more than five years train driving, attendance is mandatory at the centre once every two years. Newer drivers attend the simulator much more often, and could accrue as many as 46 hours of simulator driving by the end of their second year.
Simulators allow the testing of situations that are inconvenient, unsafe, or impractical to replicate on the railway. This includes poor weather conditions, faults and failures on the train, communication, line blockages and emergency situations that involve interaction with passengers.
“We want to see drivers react to a given situation, which would be difficult, dangerous or impossible to replicate in the real world,” Cook said.
Each assessment is scenario-based, run by an assessor who observes the driver via incab TV, and the instructor’s console. It is understood that other simulators in the UK do produce post-run analysis and the technology is capable of providing an assessment, although ScotRail do not use this.
A personal touch
Cook continued: “It’s an assessment by a person rather than by a computer. The computer could throw out statistics, reaction time, but we prefer to have a professional assessor observe the scenario as carried out by the driver.
“We can then ask questions to explore indepth knowledge later on. If they don’t perform to the right standard, we can stop it and ask the driver ‘What’s going on, how do you feel about this? Can you see what might be happening next?’ We get them to explain to us what could be going wrong, then we re-run it so we see them perform appropriately at a given standard.”
A few other companies already use this approach, and it is something that Cook would recommend, although he adds: “It requires commitment. It’s a significant resource given the input of driver manager grades.”
Cook stressed the benefits are many and varied, and stated: “We have seen a quantifiable improvement in drivers’ confidence and professionalism and in the way they approach their assessments.”
Simulation saturation?
However, with new traction types the only outlet for developments in the rail simulation industry, Cook suggests that the future is in smart technology that is only now becoming advanced and affordable enough for use in rail.
Cook claimed: “Simulation saturation came early in 2010. The innovations we’ve had recently have either been through new rolling stock purchase or the refurbishment of really old simulators. Brand new simulators invariably are now tied to new rolling stock, with one or two notable exceptions, who have either bought or are buying simulators for older traction. So we may have reached saturation point, with over 50 simulators [in the UK].
“Nowadays I believe the industry will move away from that, to low-cost simulation, generic cab simulators, desktop simulators, even virtual reality. Why not put a set of virtual reality goggles on a driver? Those are the things we probably will be moving towards, for two reasons.
“Firstly the workforce is much more attuned to that sort of technology, and secondly that technology has matured sufficiently to make it affordable. That is a big thing for the rail industry.
“The expansion of simulators was primarily driven by PC-based simulators, prior to that it was all image generators, databases etc. which were all very expensive. Now they’re all commercial, off-the-shelf. It’s the operating system which is designed by the manufacturer that creates the environment; for the rest of it you could go to Dell, buy a PC and you configure it to do the job you want.”
Tell us what you think – have your say below, or email us directly at [email protected]