Blog Post

PARTICIPATION IN THE CROSSRAIL INTEGRATION FACILITY

jul 14, 2018

The Crossrail Programme which will deliver the new Elizabeth line, is one of Europe’s biggest infrastructure projects at the present time and will deliver 26 miles of new rail tunnel under London along with ten new stations in Central and Southeast London. The line is due to open in phases from the end of 2018, and has been sized to carry a total of 200 million passengers a year when fully complete in 2019.


The project by Crossrail Ltd generated an integration and testing environment for the rail signalling system, known as the Crossrail Integration Facility. This is a simulation environment featuring real components of the signalling system to test operational functions using a simulated driver’s cab, which realistically reproduces signalling and rail traffic.


CITEF has worked alongside Siemens on the following activities in the course of the project:


– 3D visual simulation.


Generation of the 3D visual simulation scenario representing the Elizabeth line, in its final operational configuration. The graphic environment features a total of 13 stations, 25 km of tunnel and 15 km of open track. The high-quality graphics not only provide an exact reproduction of the routing, the stations and all signalling equipment, but also of the trains, types of tunnel and major external features, in order to secure a high degree of immersivity.


Development was carried out using the Unity rendering engine, along with state-of-the-art texturing and materials technology.


– Driver’s cab.


Construction of the driving consoles is designed to integrate the train’s real on-board signalling equipment, with real controls to enable the simulator to be used in exactly the same way as a real train is driven. The controls include opening and closing door mechanisms, reverse mode, cab override, traction regulator, emergency button and signalling control switches, and a touch-sensitive screen to show the simulated MMI.

Console systems were sensorised with a modular data acquisition system, using an Ethernet interface.


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