IT & SOFTWARE
every two years. Newer drivers attend the simulator much more often, and could ac- crue as many as 46 hours of simulator driv- ing by the end of their second year.
Simulators allow the testing of situations that are inconvenient, unsafe, or imprac- tical to replicate on the railway. This in- cludes 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, danger- ous or impossible to replicate in the real world,” Cook said.
Each assessment is scenario-based, run by an assessor who observes the driver via in- cab TV, and the instructor’s console. It is understood that other simulators in the UK do produce post-run analysis and the tech- nology is capable of providing an assess- ment, 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, reac- tion time, but we prefer to have a profes- sional assessor observe the scenario as car- ried out by the driver.
“We can then ask questions to explore in- depth 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 re- source given the input of driver manager grades.”
Cook stressed the benefits are many and varied, and stated: “We have seen a quan- tifiable 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 simula- tion industry, Cook suggests that the future is in smart technology that is only now be- coming 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 refurbish- ment of really old simulators. Brand new simulators invariably are now tied to new rolling stock, with one or two notable ex- ceptions, 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 Sharing best practice
In 2002, with a few other rail professionals, Cook co- founded the Simulator User Group, which provided a platform to share best practice and improve stand- ards of procurement and assessment. The group is now known as the UK Rail Simulator User Group, of which Cook has also been chairman. Pat Halpin, learning delivery manager for London Underground, is the current chairman.
The group has since expanded, with associate members in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ire- land, France, Spain, Germany, Holland and Norway as well as the UK.
“The expansion of simulators was primar- ily 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 envi- ronment; for the rest of it you could go to Dell, buy a PC and you configure it to do the job you want.”
Malcolm Cook
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www.scotrail.co.uk
rail technology magazine Dec/Jan 12 | 69
away from that, to low-cost simulation, ge- neric 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 at- tuned to that sort of technology, and sec- ondly that technology has matured suffi- ciently to make it affordable. That is a big thing for the rail industry.
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