Applying Simulation Techniques to Train Railway Traction Drivers William J
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THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Applying Simulation Techniques to Train Railway Traction Drivers William J. Moloney A Thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the Award of the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY September 2017 “Though, for Distinction Sake, a Deceiving by Words is commonly called a Lye, and a Deceiving by Actions, Gestures, or Behaviour, is called Simulation or Hypocrisy.” Quoted from Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions Vol.1, The Sixth Edition. Robert South (D.D.) (1643-1716) University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract The writer attempts to establish whether the transition from a conventional training delivery process for traction drivers to a simulator enabled process has been effective. This evaluation of effectiveness is based on a study of Iarnród Éireann’s system that was implemented by the author. Evidence is contained within four supporting strands, i.e., the change in relevant operational risk that was calculated using ex ante and ex post runs of Iarnród Éireann’s risk model, the internal rate of return on the financial investment necessary to effect the change, the results of an operator attitudinal study and the findings of an independent expert audit. The author has established that simulation is an effective training medium for railway traction drivers, when implemented correctly. The attributes of the system and the use cases that resulted in this finding are described in the thesis. The writer also presents additional value-adding training objectives that could increase the Internal Rate of Return of such a project. The study affirms that the verisimili- tude requirements of a simulator system are a function of the training goals and the nature of the skills being developed. Design features and use strategies can mitigate for the potential negative effects of simulator operation. The findings have industry-wide relevance for those tasked with providing effective training to the 133,000 train drivers within the European Union. Railway operating companies in Europe are equal opportunity employers. Drivers may be of male or female gender. In an attempt to improve legibility of this thesis, the use of phrases such as s/he, her/him and her/his has been avoided. To avoid unnecessary political correctness and pedantry, the terms Ireland, Irish, State, and Government are applied in the context of the Republic of Ireland. A comprehensive two-part glossary of terms, together with a list of acronyms, is provided at the start of this thesis. These terms are used routinely and are formatted in italics on the first occasion that they appear in the body of the text. Unless qualified by citation, the views expressed herein are those of the writer solely. Page I Page Intentionally Left Blank Page II Acknowledgements In the production of a piece of work such as this, the writer has personal moti- vations to see it through to its completion. Other, less obvious, stakeholders in the process do not have the same motivations and have assisted the writer because of a sense of altruism, good fellowship, repute or a desire to develop and promulgate useful knowledge. The railway industry is truly a fraternity of like-minded professional people. The writer has found that there are universal concerns within the railway industry and that his concerns, in respect of operator training, mirror closely the concerns of others who occupy similar roles in other railway operating companies. The boundary-less community of practice proved invaluable for this research. Many contacts in the railway, simulation and academic spheres in Australia, Japan, the United States of America, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Ireland provided extensive background information. The writer would like to express his gratitude to all those, too numerous to mention individually, who freely gave their time to assist him. The writer was the simulation project’s sponsor, manager and owner. However, I.É.’s project, or this thesis, could not have been realised without the assistance of a great many others. The writer acknowledges the contributions of: 1) The board, the directors and senior managers of I.É who supported the writer at all stages of the project’s implementation and his research activity; 2) Staff at I.É.’s Training Centres at Inchicore and Mallow who: a. Embraced the project and supported its actualisation in all kinds of ways; from project inception through the elaboration, specification, lesson plan design, equipment testing and operational stages; b. Collated details from the course evaluation sheets. 3) I.É.’s drivers who participated in the SAT process and provided feedback through the course evaluation process; 4) Sotera Risk Solutions who provided the comparative ex ante and ex post results from I.É.’s Network Wide Risk Model; Page III 5) Personnel at CORYS who provided the writer with supportive information, built a great product and delivered it to schedule; 6) Rail Training International who provided training support to I.É’s staff trainers enabling them to maximise the trainees’ experience and training outcomes; 7) Staff from I.É.’s Legal, Procurement, New Works; and Civil, Mechanical, Electrical and Signal Engineering Departments who provided support at the contract, modelling and implementation phases. The efforts of three people deserve special acknowledgement. They are the people who provided profound support and encouragement not alone during the prepa- ration of this report, but throughout my preceding educational programmes. The gift of knowledge is the most valuable gift that one person can bestow on another. It is my most-pleasurable duty to recognise his contribution and to publicly express my gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Felix Schmid, for his ongoing help and indefatigable support throughout the research and preparation processes. Those mentioned above had to endure my foibles during normal office hours only. My wife, Carmel, and daughter, Niamh, had to endure them constantly. Many missed family social events were graciously forgiven in the pursuit of progress to- wards the completion of this report. I will be forever grateful for their unwavering support as we trod the path together. Míle buíochas daoibh go léir! (A thousand thanks to all of you.) Page IV Table of Contents Table of Contents, Lists of Figures, Tables and Appendices ................................ V Glossary of Terms (A) - Railway and Simulation Domains .............................. XV Glossary of Terms (B) - Psychology and Human Factors Domains .............. XXIII List of Acronyms ........................................................................................... XXIX Research Questions ........................................................................................ XXXI 1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The Context of the Subject of this Study ............................................... 3 1.2 Managing Risk and Alternative Approaches to Failure ......................... 9 1.3 The Futility of Retrospective Analyses ................................................ 11 1.4 Writer’s Motivation for Thesis ............................................................. 12 1.5 Structure of Thesis ............................................................................... 13 1.6 Conclusion............................................................................................ 16 2 The Changing Nature and the Complexity of Train Driving ....................... 17 2.1 The Evolution of the Train Driving Activity ....................................... 17 2.2 Task Complexity .................................................................................. 21 2.3 Task Context and its Ramifications ..................................................... 24 2.4 The Nature and Elements of the Train Driving Task ........................... 26 2.5 Evolution of the Design of the Job ....................................................... 28 2.6 Conclusion............................................................................................ 30 3 General Cognitive and Developmental Aspects of Training ....................... 31 3.1 The Difference between Education and Training ................................ 32 3.2 Experiential, Experimental and Contextual Learning .......................... 33 3.3 The Nature and the Extent of Necessary Experience ........................... 35 3.4 Inadequacies in the Extant Process ...................................................... 36 Page V 3.5 Learning Styles and Training Delivery Strategies ............................... 38 3.6 Mental Models: the training challenge ................................................. 39 3.7 The Social Dimension of Learning ...................................................... 41 3.8 Mastery ................................................................................................