This represents a new and important step forward following years of collaboration between TMB and CITEF (the Railway Technology Research Centre).
It has been developed based on the Comprehensive Simulator for Driving, Breakdown Repair and Operation installed at the Hospital Clinic training centre, although in this case it focuses on training CCM operators.
The training system consists of one Instructor Station and two Student Stations, which display the simulation of the line and traffic as well as a realistic remote control interface for Ferrocarril Metropolità de Barcelona lines 1, 3 and 5. It also includes a simulation of radio communications and integration with the real TMB traffic regulation application.
The system allows executing two independent exercises on each student station or a collaborative exercise between both stations in a common scenario, with both students interacting to control the same line.
The student stations simulate the behaviour of each line, reproducing with great precision their geometry, field elements and signalling systems (interlocking manoeuvre tables, ATP track circuit codes, and so on).
The remote control interface used by the students has been created with a high degree of precision and maximum attention to detail, both visually and functionally, with practically no difference between the simulator and the real remote control.
It also includes an extensive collection of breakdowns and incidents, allowing staff to be trained in a broad range of situations that cannot be reproduced in reality, enabling a quick and decisive reaction if they ever occur in real situations.
The system is equipped with a system called HECOFORM for the design, planning, monitoring and analysis of the training. This system is installed on the Instructor Station, and allows creating new exercises, assigning these exercises to students, personalising the pace of the training, monitoring the students' actions, interacting with the different simulations and carrying out their assessment. One of the most interesting features of the Instructor Station is the line map, which can be used to check the progress of the exercise and to vary the conditions of the exercise in terms of signalling, train traffic (inserting/extracting trains, modifying their behaviour to stop them, speeding them up and changing their direction), and managing breakdowns and incidents.
