Case Studies - Rail

Our involvement
Rail company Railtrack needed to know why train drivers sometimes fail to notice danger signals - and urgently find ways of stopping this happening. They had already examined every track junction, signal, network and train, but this didn't provide all the answers.

So they turned to QinetiQ to investigate the physiological and psychological factors that could contribute to train drivers passing signals at danger.

What we did
We conducted a study in two phases. First, we did a field study to examine driver alertness during normal conditions. Second, we ran a laboratory-based simulated driving task, to examine driver performance under different conditions.

The field study investigated how levels of drowsiness fluctuated during a typical shift. We assessed drowsiness in two ways:

• from the brain's electrical activity, via small electrodes attached to drivers' scalps
• from eye movement, recorded from electrodes attached around their eyes.

• how far the driver was into a shift
• the type of - morning or afternoon
• the type of route - urban or intercity.

The results and benefits
We revealed important factors about train driver behaviour which gave Railtrack solid and practical data they could use to improve driver performance and train safety.

For example, drivers' drowsiness levels varied according to how far they were into their shift. Drivers were most drowsy after about 1.5 hours and 3.5 hours of driving. Also, drivers' performance varied according to the type of route - they used the emergency brake more on monotonous routes.

Anything is possible - just ask
This is a prime example of how we are applying our knowledge and technological expertise to help solve critical public safety problems. We could do the same for you. Whatever your requirements or problems, we have the ideas, know how and solutions.