Network Rail regulation and performance

Using simulators to measure energy saving techniques

RSSB is currently assisting the rail industry to ensure a ‘sustainable future’ for the railways by promoting a number of initiatives to protect the environment and minimise the impact of climate change. Part of this process will be to reduce the emissions of diesel engines and the use of electricity which are the two primary sources of power supplies for trains. From a train driving perspective, this means train operators will be looking closely at ways of developing driving techniques to ensure energy is not wasted.

To address this, ‘one’ railway are using their newly commissioned train driving simulators from Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) at Stratford to assess drivers’ ability to save energy through professional driving techniques, with all drivers undertaking an assessment on the simulator over a route using a number of station stops. As the route is generic, none of the drivers will have the benefit of detailed route knowledge, although a route brief is provided by the instructor in advance of the session. A key part of the exercise is measuring how well drivers can interpret information such as schedule cards, passing times and dwell times and the skill of the driver to assess the route and effectively use the driving controls.

Each driver’s performance is benchmarked against a target based on the average of the top 20 runs over the route. The results indicate whether the driver is better or worse than the benchmark score including how much energy has been saved in terms of fuel.

Justin Willett, head of driver training and simulation for ‘one’, says that drivers from different depots are already taking pride in demonstrating how professional they can be in saving energy and still achieve the programmed timings. In response to the feedback, a depot competition is being held with the top few drivers from each depot representing their depot in an inter-depot competition.

A key difference between the ‘one’ simulator provided by KMW and some of the earlier simulators commissioned in the UK is the new “on-screen” concept where the image is projected directly onto the driver’s windscreen, filling the field of view completely. Developments in technology now mean that the graphics provide superb long distance viewing with the signal aspects being visible just like in real life.

‘one’ Railway will also be using the simulator for training and development of their drivers and, similar to Virgin Trains and SWT, will use the simulator as an essential part of a revised assessment process with plans for each driver to attend the simulator centre once every 9 months to practice rules and emergency procedures infrequently encountered,

Competence assessment
The simulators produce an output that can be interpreted by the manager in the line and is robust enough to be incorporated into a competency management system. The two simulators produce a fully editable scoring report based on a set of rules definable by the operator. It is very flexible and has the potential to become a key enabler towards a mainly paperless based assessment system.

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