(The following report by Paul Meincke appeared at ABC7.com on October 23).
CHICAGO — A deadly Metra accident two years ago triggered a push to improve training for engineers. So starting next week, high-tech simulators will be used.
It looks real, sounds real, feels real, even the view out the side window and rear view mirror. But this train is on no tracks. It’s in a room at Metra’s headquarters. It’s a railroad of computer generated images designed to teach, train and test.
“I think the whole term is it’s better to see than tell. It’s a lot easier to show a person what he’s not doing right as opposed to just telling him,” said Marty Fitts, Metra Supt. of Trans. & Training.
Two years ago, when a Metra Rock Island train derailed, two people died and others were permanently disabled. The train should’ve slowed to 10 miles an hour for a crossover. It was going 70.
Federal investigators concluded the engineer missed a signal. And they strongly recommended that Metra start using simulators for engineer training. Metra has purchased five of them; each replicates a locomotive cab specific to a Metra line.
From the outer room, Supervisor Bob Tague watches everything in the simulation. In fact, he controls it. He sets up scenarios to judge engineer reaction.
“We wanna keep these guys in a situation where& there isn’t complacency, that every day is a new day,” Tague said.
Want a change in the weather? Bring on the thunder and lighting or roll in the fog. Change signals, put a car on the tracks, in reality a regrettably common occurrence, or you can add the improbable, but not impossible, cow on the tracks.
Beginning next week, the simulators will be used for extensive training of new engineers. They are an adjunct to the real deal. The intent is also to keep veteran engineers fresh by using the simulators.
“We would like to bring in engineers at random and allow them to make runs,” said Fitts.
Everything is recorded in the simulator and can be played back for review. There’s even a camera pointed at the engineer. The $2 million-plus spent on the simulators comes in addition to a new satellite-based train control system that can automatically brake a train if it blows a signal. The hardware for that pilot program is going in on the Rock Island line now.
“We need to get back with the reputation that we had, being number one, the premiere railroad,” said Fitts.
Simulators have been around for a while, but this is the latest generation – complete with a sound effects package that makes it seem like the real thing when, for instance, rain hits the windshield of the locomotive.
Metra had its rail lines videotaped and then transferred into computer-generated images so the engineers in the simulators are seeing the same landmarks, crossings and track configuration that they’ll see when they’re hauling passengers.