Blog Post

NEW COMPREHENSIVE SIMULATOR FOR DRIVING, BREAKDOWN REPAIR AND OPERATION OF THE BARCELONA METROPOLITAN RAILWAY

9 de agosto de 2022

The Barcelona Metropolitan Railway’s new Comprehensive Simulator for Driving, Breakdown Repair and Operation – SICRAO – was installed between October and December 2020 and is currently in use at TMB’s (Barcelona Metropolitan Transport) training centre at Hospital Clínic station. This represents a new and important step forward, following years of collaboration between TMB and CITEF (Railway Technology Research Centre).

The facility is composed of a comprehensive driving and traffic control simulator, enabling training exercises with simultaneous interaction between several drivers and the CCM (Operations Control Center) operators, which CITEF has been developing over the last 15 years (Simulators of Lines 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 in Madrid, as well as the Madrid Light Metro; Simulators of Lines 1, 2, 4 and 5 of the Santiago Metro).

The system is equipped with a design, planning, monitoring and analysis system, which is made up of a toolkit that includes a simulator exercise designer and a training platform created in Moodle and which comprises all the simulator tools.

This integration with the Moodle platform’s e-learning tools allows for theoretical training and online testing, among other features, complementing the practical training plan taught with the simulator.

The training centre is set up across different spaces, allowing the user to take full advantage of its capabilities:

Simulation room: this space contains different simulation roles that can work independently or in conjunction:
Three cabs for the S6000/S5000 series that circulate on three lines (L1, L3 and L5) under two ATP/ATO signalling systems (Bombardier and Dimetronic)
Two cabs for the S4000/S3000 series that run on lines L1 and L3 with ATP/ATO Bombardier signalling.
Three versatile CCM stations, which include a realistic interface for traffic control, radio communications with the train and which will integrate the traffic regulation application.
An Instructor role: allowing the user to assign exercises to students, set the pace of training, follow the progress of students, interact with the different simulations and carry out evaluations. Through a webcam, a virtual reproduction of the desk, the 3D visualization of the line and a line map, the progress of the exercise can be checked and its conditions varied.
Observation room: This 12 person capacity classroom allows students to gradually familiarize themselves with the training content. Using two large screens, the instructor can display theoretical content, project recordings of the exercises carried out or share the progress of a simulation in progress.
Administrator station: where the exercises and training content are designed and the progress of students is monitored.

The driver cabs faithfully reproduce the driving space of a real train. They feature highly realistic state-of-the-art visuals, based on a Unity engine, allowing students to immerse themselves in the scenario. Also available to the student on an additional touch screen, through an intuitive and didactic interface, are all the circuit breakers, valves, doors and cabinets of the train unit which a driver needs to use and be familiar with, as well as operations such as cab changes.

The signalling systems have been created with great accuracy to provide an authentic experience for both the driver and the control centre, in both normal and degraded operations.

A wide collection of breakdowns and incidents are available, both on the train and on the line, allowing staff to be trained in a broad range of situations not easily reproduced on the real line, enabling a quick and decisive reaction when they occur in real situations. In addition, the system is equipped with a series of evaluation tools to assist the instructor and facilitate the automation of the analysis of the student’s academic results, so that the generated reports can be easily analysed.

INSTRUCTOR Y SALA