Simulation Study

MsRailroad

New member
Hi Community:
I am trying to build scenarios for my simulation study and I can't think of any other scenarios where an engineer would be paying attention visually (on the road)-can you think of anything?


I currently have: Interlockings, grade crossings, gate malfunctions, trespassers, work areas, signal drops, station stops, station blow-throughs.


The goal is to use eye tracking to determine if the engineer looked at the thing we wanted him/her to look at while going through the simulation. This is a passenger study.


Any help out be appreciated!
 
A driver (engineer) is always paying attention visually - although to the untrained eye he may appear to be so relaxed that you don't think he's watching. After many years experience that "sixth-sense" kicks in too and you get the feeling that something is not quite right long before the proverbial hits the fan. Rail conditions, people and livestock, other trains - ahead or passing- or stationary wagons, signals, sidings, tunnels, level-crossings (grade crossings, I think the people of America call them) and much, much more will grab a driver's (engineer's) attention. Your eyes roam constantly. The instruments on the desk, the horizon, the visible rails ahead - and even adjacent sets of rails, signals, fences, back to your instruments; then you might do a quick scan around the cab - for no reason whatsoever - before resuming the list of things I just wrote. All this time you can "feel" your train through the seat of your pants. Every little tug on every little coupling. The man on the front is always paying attention because his is the first head that's going to get squashed if he hits anything substantial.

Cheers

Dave
 
An engineer and his conductor are liable, just like a car or truck driver ... Both can get a ticket for speeding, and involuntary homicide by motor vehicle charge, or DUI, and have to give a full NTSB blood analysis whenever an incident occurs ... Just like a car or truck they have to be prepared to stop when the see an obstruction
 
True ... But if a crew hits a trespasser, they will be tested, and can lose their jobs, and criminally charged, if found negligent, even though the mile long kinetic force propels them well past an incident location ... that does not give them right and immunity to mow down things
 
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Reply to Dave

Hi Dave:
Thank you for responding. So if you were an engineer operating on the main line, is there something besides the things I listed in the original post, where a radio communication may distract you? For example, we're expecting if an engineer was approaching a signal where he should see it all the way through, if a radio communication came in at the same time, he may stop looking at the signal and it could drop right before he goes through, and he/she wouldn't see it.

Any scenarios like a signals you mentioned below, where engineer should definitely take notice? How would a tunnel possibly fit into this? I'm not aware of what an engineer looks at in or around tunnels.
 
reply

Also, anything an engineer would need to pay attention to while pulling into a station? Something we can measure he/she was looking at?
 
But we all get distracted, they are just human! And some things industry makes them deal with are naturally distracting.
 
Hi Dave:
Thank you for responding. So if you were an engineer operating on the main line, is there something besides the things I listed in the original post, where a radio communication may distract you? For example, we're expecting if an engineer was approaching a signal where he should see it all the way through, if a radio communication came in at the same time, he may stop looking at the signal and it could drop right before he goes through, and he/she wouldn't see it.

Any scenarios like a signals you mentioned below, where engineer should definitely take notice? How would a tunnel possibly fit into this? I'm not aware of what an engineer looks at in or around tunnels.

Though I might be answering for Dave here, this was the issue which caused that fatal accident in Philadelphia a couple of years ago. The young engineer was distracted by the constant radio chatter and didn't pay attention to the upcoming curve at Franklin Jct., which caused the Amtrak train to crash.

For more details on this stuff, I highly recommend reading some of the accident reports and other information on rail incidents at www.ntsb.gov

Sorry I can't answer on tunnels, but usually they are off limits to trespassers due to tight clearances. I would think too they are on the lookout for fallen objects, broken rails, and anything else including signals if any just like the rest of the line, except everything is in pitch blackness.
 
Hi everybody.
When it comes to what a professional rail driver or heavy vehicle road driver should be looking for and be aware of in any given situation then two basic elements come into the equation. In the foregoing the first and most important factor would be the training any person receives to make him/her thourghly equipped and fit to carryout the task(s) they are to be entrusted with. The second element is the on job working experience for which no amount of training can substitute and provides the many years of accident free driving that so many in the transport industry accomplish in their working lives.

In the above I would be unaware of the full training programs here in the UK for the rail industry, but I would believe that they are similar to the road transport industry. In the foregoing a prospective driver has to take up to thirteen individual tests and examinations to obtain the top LGV licence grade and even following that it may take up to two years of continuous accident free experience before the best employer's will offer the newcomer permanent employment.

Training and experience are everything in the transport industry as they teach the driver of a fourty foot articulated vehicle (12.192 metres) what to look for and be aware of on a tight left or right hand turn or what the rail driver/engineer should be looking for and be aware of as he or she approaches a tunnel. Any number of given situations are handled by way of training and experience with simulation having a place in obtaining both the the above. However, there is no true substitute for actually being in the cab of that artic or locomotive in real everyday conditions whether that be summer or winter, day or night. Without exception it is in the foregoing that the fully qualified, trained and experienced driver keeps everyone on board or in the vicinity of his or her vehicle safe.

Bill
 
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Hi Community:
I am trying to build scenarios for my simulation study and I can't think of any other scenarios where an engineer would be paying attention visually (on the road)-can you think of anything?

Hello, just noticed you don't have a Trainz product registered. Asking a lot of possibly legal questions, and they may not be relevant to the simulation of 'Trainz'. They may be real world questions (moderator move topic?).

I am an arbitrator and it strikes me odd the method of your questioning without really explaining what you are trying to accomplish here on this forum, since it does not look like you are building a Trainz Route. Just asking, would like to know there is no other motive besides the Trainz Simulation? Can you enlighten our group?
 
The goal is to use eye tracking to determine if the engineer looked at the thing we wanted him/her to look at while going through the simulation. This is a passenger study.
Seems to me that you have completely ignored the requirement to watch the line behind the engine using the mirrors.
 
In NSW metro area, electric pass services have no mirrors :confused:. What to do? Anyway, on curves you can't see much of anything, anyway.
 
An engineer is taught how to drive, and what to look for, and is given a qualification training for the particular route ... If you don't have the common sense, can't operate a locomotive and control the train ... You are drummed out of a job as an inept applicant ... no eye tracking software/hardware will ever help train a incompetent person
 
If you need RoboCop or Terminator computer eyeball virtual HUD enhancement in order to drive a train and to distinguish signals ... the job is not for you
 
Hi everybody.
Sadly over the next few years all rail driver/engineer jobs will be taken over by artificial intelligence. Driverless trains, trucks, buses and cars will become the "norm" in developed countries throughout the world. Autonomous vehicles will prove to be far safer than vehicles controlled by humans and within ten to twelve years a debate will begin as to whether human beings should be allowed to control any vehicle while it is moving.
Bill
 
It has been 30 years now since the London Docklands Light Railway (DLR) started carrying passengers in "driverless" trains. So there is plenty of data showing how safe or otherwise automated trains are especially when designed that way from the start.
The DLR is a very different railway to traditional ones as most of the track is away from people/animals etc. The normal UK routes are still driver/engineer driven and I'd hate to see that change in the foreseeable future. There are too many variables for automated systems to handle in a network which has been built over 170 odd years.
 
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