MOTIVATION
Shunting of trains is a task requiring to meticulously follow all steps to guarantee safety for everyone involved during and after the procedure and contribute to effective engineering operations. These steps are currently taught using classic teaching materials, such as printouts, videos and training by experienced supervisors.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this project is to deliver a lifelike, collaborative virtual environment for CSR shunting training including a novel human factors evaluation system. The project intends to address the following business challenges:
Problem statement #1: Locomotives are hard to book for training/recertification, as they are being used for rail operations. Hence availability of Locomotives for training/recertification is very limited.
Problem statement #2: Rail ops have imposed a block out time, leaving limited hours to perform shunting for ops, and even more limited time for training purposes.
Problem statement #3: There are currently no alternative training facilities for shunting certification and re-certification, business needs are increasing for shunters, and assessor numbers are limited.
Problem statement #4: Locomotive shunting training/recertification requires realistic, experiential, hands-on training under normal and/or troubleshooting conditions to ensure high levels of competency.
NOVELTY
- Collaborative training of two workers (train operator and ground shunter) for shunting of trains in a complex and lifelike shared virtual environment
- Integration of human factors evaluation addressing both technical and soft skills
ADDED VALUE
This VR training and research simulator will potentially achieve a higher quality of training throughout the whole employee lifecycle not only addressing beginners but also experienced workers. It is expected that the integration of state-of-the-art immersive solutions in the lifelong learning environment at SMRT will lead to an improved employee collaboration, increased engagement and safety.
Figure 1. 3D-model
of the Engineering Train used by SMRT
Figure 2. Example of Lifelike Virtual
Training Environment (virtual vs real)
Figure 3. VR-TSST in action: first
testing