Sydac's train cab simulators at Petersham college

[craigd]

Hi,

For those who are interested I did the SRT 1/06 (aka SMS 3.3) class at Petersham college last Monday and part of that course was taking part in training using RailCorp's very expensive (and very unrealistic) cab simulators based on the cabs of a Tangara and an S/R/L/K/C set.

I don't know if the same company responsible for the refurbishment of the simulators a year or so ago is the same one that supplied and installed all the equipment originally used with them (PDP-11's with very large laser disc players!), but the current setup comes from Sydac. I don't know if the Millenium simulator is also using their software but it might be even though it's currently set up seperately to the two main cab simulators in the second 'reality room' at the college.

Checking Sydac's website reveals that they've been involved with a number of other rail simulation projects.

Craig.

[elastigirl]

Hi,

For those who are interested I did the SRT 1/06 (aka SMS 3.3) class at Petersham college last Monday and part of that course was taking part in training using RailCorp's very expensive (and very unrealistic) cab simulators based on the cabs of a Tangara and an S/R/L/K/C set.

I've heard that these simulators are anything but realistic because there is no 'through the seat' feedback just you get in the real thing. Imagine trying to teach people to drive a car in that sort of simulator? Almost all of the control feedback in a motor vehicle is movement-based, and I'm sure that it's pretty much the same for trains. After all if the airlines can spend limitless funds to get simulators that actually do emulate the real thing right down to all the motion feedback that the pilot(s) will feel when flying the real thing, why can't the railways do the same and provide a proper training environment for staff?

It's probably no wonder that there appear to be so many incidents related to new drivers... They get trained inadquately from the start because the training equipment fails to deliver true experience simulation right from the outset.

Helen.

[sylvia_else]

You'd think that RailCorp would learn from their mistakes - clearly they believe sub-standard training is an acceptable substitute but in plenty of cases it seems to have been biting them on the preverbial arse.

Why persist with simulators if they're not going to be set up to be realistic from the start? You can't train someone to drive a train in the real world if the simulation isn't as close to the real thing as money can buy... Well doh! Gag me with a spoon mr Vince Graham but I think you have allowed your cronies who run Australian Rail Training to feed you way too much b's this time around. lol