The Regional Department of Development, Housing, Planning and Tourism, through the Public Works Agency (AOPJA) of Andalucia Regional Government, has awarded CITEF (the Foundation for the Development of Industrial Innovation) the design, installation and commissioning of a driving simulator for the training, recycling and assessment of driving staff in the Granada Metro system. This action has been awarded an investment of €730,840 and a completion period of eight months.
The Granada Metro Driving Simulator will have a student station and an instructor station, as well as an observation space for the remaining students during training activities. The software will be able to replicate train behaviour, simulating the effects of acting on the controls; traction and braking curves; the configuration of instruments; headlight, windscreen wiper and communication controls; and the operation of passenger doors, among others.
This simulator will be installed inside the Granada Metro workshops and depot building and will reinforce driver training by simulating real situations that will enable drivers-in-training to develop the necessary driving skills. Besides simulating normal operation, the device also simulates faults and incidents that occur during real operation of the Metro, and these situations can then be addressed more effectively as a result.
The use of simulators in train driver training has proven to have multiple advantages. First of all, this tool re-creates situations or incidents that are impossible to implement using real trains, such as faults, collisions or running over someone. It also reduces the risks related to the circulation of trains during training and recycling activities. From the operational point of view, it reduces practical training on the tracks, which reduces the load on train maintenance, infrastructure and installations. It also involves less wear on the trains since they do not have to be used in training. Finally, it may reduce some of the real circulation by replacing it with the simulator. Training hours are also optimised, since they are no longer restricted to the limited availability outside commercial service hours.
The technology developed by CITEF will also allow instructors to create exercises that reproduce real driving situations with or without incidents. They will be able to directly observe the operator’s performance; record, extract and work with data from any scenarios implemented; analyse the results achieved and assess and improve the students’ performance.