The Metro Line Simulator Of RATP

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THE METRO LINE SIMULATOR OF RATP Pierre Barrier Inghlieur en Ch ef. Chef du senice d e I'ex ploitatio n du R esea u Ferr e d e la RAT?, 13 , Ru e Jul es Vall es, 75011 Paris

Abstract _ Th e o peration o f modern e quipm ents v.'hich has allowed a signifi cant increase in the transport capacity o f the Par is met r o requires an experienced staff. After th o r o ugh studies carried o ut by multidiscipl ina ry teams of technicians and operators , the RATP engineers c o ncluded that the real i zati on o f a metro line simulator was the sa f est and cheapest way to train o p e rat ors to c o pe with e merg e ncy situations while strictly applyin g the metro safety regulations. After explaining this idea , the paper gives the description of the equi p o f its data pr ocessi ng and the philosophy of its ment , the or ganization use for training . Keywords.

Metro - Operation - Basic and refresh training Simulator .

1. WHY A SIMULATOR? The present operation of a metro line relies upon the correct use of very efficient and moder n a ut omatic controls which have allowed a striking increase of the carrying capacity but which have also induced unstable operations when the operators are not perf ectly familiar with the safety regulations or have not the abi I i ty of swi ftly coping wi th any type o f d own - graded situation.

fr om slipping into hab its whic h could en d an ger safety.

After a thorough study , the RATP has concluded that the only way t o train and above all t o swi ftly refresh the skill of operators was to design a system which present s a fai thful duplicat ion of a metro line and si mulates the operatlon o f this line with a through liken ess in order to d is play real situations .

The simulator pr ovides training in the following four essential ope rati on functions in both normal and d own - graded sit uation.

In fact there is d oes the f ollowing

on ly

such a

- has all the analysing equipment necessary f or trainees to take fully advantage fr o m the teaching sessions.

2. THE TRAINEES

Dispatch of trains fr om termini Train movement regulation on line Shuntings Management of tractive power.

system which

3. THE DESIGN 3 . 1 The metro simulated line has been inte grated into Par is metr o network with all the interchange sta t ions (Fig. 1) .

- creates all types o f d o wn - graded situa tions to train operator reflex actions without endangering sa f ety , disrupting traffic o r damaging i nstallations .

The line includes a maln branch of 14.5 km length wlth 24 stations, and a subsidiary branch o f 3 . 5 km with 3 stations , which is linked to the main branch. The simulated installations are among those to be f o und an all the Paris metro lines e .g.

- makes trainees fully acquainted with the installations they will be operating in prac tice , in a standardised manner and under individual guidance fr om qual i f ied instruc t o rs.

- A centralised control room (C . C . R . ) which controls tractive power and train runnings between termini.

- allows experienced operators to refresh their skills and kn o wl e dge at regular inter vals , through rap i d scanning o f all regula ti ons to be applied. Th is prevents operators ~

1I

P . Barrier - Thr ee termini fHt ed o ut with local signal b o x es (LSB) f or controlling traln runnlng inside the termini lndependentl y of the central ised controled room (CCR).

· Two d lS k un its with a capaclty o f 10 mega o ct e t s (hold the dialogue pr o grams , the si mul ato r management pr o grams and all the data for e x e rc ises and tlme tab les) .

3.2 At th e core of the simulat o r is a computer WhlCh constantly determines the traln positions as a function of the slgnals , p Olnts and crosslngs and tractlve p o wer supply . The computer also acquires and pr ocesses control dat a comlng fr om the CCR , the LSB ' s or the instructor desks .

· One tape unlt the d lSk un it) .

To complete the r ealism o f the simulator all this in f ormation is v isualised on the d ispla y pan els and consoles . 3.3 The syst e m is d esi gned f or b ot h basic and refresh tra ining , f o r the o p e rat ors o f the different line s o f the Paris met r o ; also three line o p era ting mo d es hav e been developped t o meet all these different r e qui rements Mode 1 Each termlnus works independ e ntly ; although there is no trainee at the CCR the LSBs can receive and dispatch trains on line . Mod e 2 The line in operation has no branch, but one o f the termini is us e d as an intermediate terminus with turn - back of every other train. The LSB not simulated in this mode can still be used independently f or basic sh unting training.

with its branch.

3.4 The tasks :

h ave

instructors

ch ie fly

two

main

- At first they enter into dialogue with the tra inees to simulate correspondants not represented in the session (for instance the train drivers) . - Secondly they giv e o rders to create different types situations or corresponding actions taken by trainees.

the

capaclty

of

· One h i gh s p eed pr inte r (prlnts o ut the paper s used fo r analysing a teaching sessi o n) . · One thre e colour pl ot ter (plots tlm e th e graph o f train runn ing)

ln

r ea l

4.2 The Trainee Consoles The CCR is f itted with a visual display unlt (VDU) f or d es cript ion o f train runnlng on line and a control pan el f o r manual dispatches and th e management o f telec o mmu nicati o n. 4.3 Th e LSBs comprise a visual display o f the trains in the terminus and of state of the signa ls and a board f or t h e management o f telecommunications.

4.4 The Instruct o r Console s The design o f based on the requirements

the instr uct ors consoles is following three important

· To survey tralnees in action with encro aching upon their operating environ ment. To have an overview of the system. To have maximum ease of man/machine dialogue in o rd er to keep dir ect instructor intervention d own t o a minimum.

Mode 3 The line is operated

(exten ds

t o the c o mputer of d o wn-grad e d t o on the spot

In fact instructors must observe and monitor trainees almost constantly, and to d o that they use advanced and rapid d i a l o gu e pr o cedur es through programmed keyboa rd. The system also gives to the instructo rs the means o f stopping the seSSlon at any given stage , running back and restarting at any selected state.

Each instructor equipment : · A c o mputer a llows to aim displayed in carri e d out by · A VDU for tional t o that

console

has

the

following

dialogue set (digitatron) wi th a f inger the control s clear text which a r e to be the computer. display of information addi on the digitatr on .

· A printer (300 bauds) used as an aid in preparing teaching sessions and f or keeping a written rec ord of the mai n events of a sessi on .

5 . SOFTWARE In designing the software , the great diver sity of the Paris metro equlpment had to be taken i nto acc o unt. It took place in three phases.

5 . 1 Description of Software

4. THE SIMULATOR LAYOUT 4.1 The Computer Comprises . A central unit with a memory of 224 words o f 16 bits (stores the actual simulation programmes) .

The application data that have to be stored ln the central storage relate to mathemati ca 1 models of simulated equi pment; they consist o f permanent characteristic informa tions and of variable characteristic in f orma tions .

:2 13

The '\l'tro Lin e Simulat o r of RAT!' T h ~ p-rmanl'~t chbraCterlst:c data are u nchan ged : n th'~· c c, urs e, o f one sIm ulat ion p erI o d : th e y ar>2 cr e, at p. d durIng the g ene rat Ion o f th e s y ste m e . g . th~ y ma y describp. th e condi t :. -. :1 S o? ! I t a.:. ! 1 ng the, o p enIng o r closing o f a l"a l lv;ay ~ .gr. al.

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data run

Th e s y stem is able to store 150 teach:ng lay o ut s on disk and many mo re o n magnet.:.c tape .

in;tiated chang e

accu rding tr3!.nee

sar y th e n stored o n on": o f the, d is k s and :ndexed USIng a s p e cial lay o ut lIb rary manag e men t pr o cedur e .

to

I n

6 .2 TeachIng Session

the

instruc -

tl o ns , o . g . an ) ccupIed o r clear stat e o f a l l n": CIrcuIt , th~ en<, ,-g lze d o r un e n er g I z e d c o nd:t lO !1 0 f a tracti lJ n suppl y secti o n . Th e a pplicat l o r, d ata s t or",d on dISks r ela t e maInl y to a fIle c, f s c en e rlOS an d initial sit u atIons , th e d ata sa f e t y f ile o f train ee acti o ns and Ills truct lons , and th e d es criptiv e f lle of the instructor/computer d ialo gu e .

6.2 . 1 Intr o duct ion Th e actual teach i ng session is preceded by an introductory phase. Th e instructor start s this phase by sel ec t i ng an appr o prI ate la yout and calling it up o n the c o mputer . The varIOUS i nstructor and tra i nee consoles are then c oo rdinated acc o r ding to the initial layout data given by the computer .

6.2.2 Execution 5 .2 OrganIzation Th e software is o rganiz e d ar o und a cycl i cal sequence of 66 simu lation processing mo dul es , o f tract io n supply , signals, train operation , and o f eq UIpment o peration u se d to put th e traIns on line (departures machi ne) . Th e 66 pr o cessing modules are broken down int o 5 groups , e ach und er supervision of a simulation monit o r entr ust ed with the sequen cing and perfor mance of the tasks .

As soo n as the instructor starts of f a simulation program , the trains begin to run accordi ng to the signa Is , swi tch gear positions and state of power supply. At any given mome nt the instructor can set off or cancel anyone of the breakdowns or command programmed in the original lay o ut . Conversely instructors can at any time create new down - graded sit uations or commands.

6 . 2.3 Session analysis The five simulation monit ors are themselves supervised by the manag ement module which is act i vat e d every 500 ms by the clock task, and in this way they oversee the cycl ing of th e processing modules assigned to each .

5.3 Programming The two ma i n compute r languages the MARIN and PL 16 languag es .

used

are

Instructors are able to replay all or part o f a teaching session for ana lysis and als o have the following at their service : - Graphs a ut omaticall y plotted on the three colour plotter which show train runnings as a function of time and the changing state of the tractive power supply. - An analysis o f the qual it y o f service giving the actual time of passag e of trains in stations versus the scheduled time .

MARIN was d e veloped specificall y f or pr o grammIng the 66 graph and l o gical equa ti o n modules describing th e o peration of th e simulated d e vices. PL 16 is used mainly f or instructor/computer c Offimunication and f or input/output management.

- A chronological list of the crucial ins truct or and tra inee actions from the start of the session.

Th e a ppl ica tion so f tware has requi red the cr e ation o f 150 000 cards o f which 120 000 ar e program cards and 30 000 are data cards.

All this information constitutes a r ecord of particular interest when the simulat o r is used for professionnal tests.

6 . THE OPERATING PROCEDURES 7. CONCLUS ION

6.1 TeachIng Pr e parati o n Using the techn:cal r oom tele printer and th e d i gitatr on d i al o gue sets on their cons ole s , the instr uct o rs can prepare lay o uts comprisIng an initial situation plus a numb e r o f br e akd o wns. Th is will simplIfy the instructor task during a sessi on . Once a lay o ut has been made up , it is tested , modified if neces -

The simulator is a complete teaching system wh i ch can be easily integrated into trad I tional and pr o grammed schemes o f basic and refresher train ing alike . It is now a must o perator training fac ilIt y whenever an heavy pass enger traffic, short headways between trains and centralised installati ons require an highly experienced staff.

P . Barrier

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Fig. 1. On the Paris metro map the simulated line presents a fat black sketch

Fig . 2. General layout of the simulator