Page 212 - DMGT518_TRAINING_AND_DEVELOPMENT_SYSTEM

Unit 12: Technology in Training

Notes
Did u know? The Electric Traction Training Centre (ETTC) will impart training to assistant
driver recruits on the state-of-the-art simulator.
Fitted with computer-generated motion images, a man-machine interface, a host of computers
and a video camera to capture the movements of the driver, the simulator looks like a
sophisticated electric locomotive and makes a driver feel that he is actually driving a train on a
specified route.

It is simulated 75 Km journey between Annavaram and Thadi in Vijayawada-Visakhapatnam
route. Motion pictures in the monitor in front of the driving wheel change every second and the
driver experiences a flurry of activity such as the passing of trains on the adjacent track and
people and cattle crossing the track.

Nine actuators fitted beneath the simulator provide the much-needed special effects such as
jerks to the loco when it is crossing a bridge. In a room next to the simulator, trainers monitor
the performance of the driver through man-machine interface and test his abilities. At the end of
each session, the driver gets a report on his performance. He can also see the recorded version of
his driving.
The simulator is the best thing to have happened to loco drivers, for not all drivers are equipped
with the skills of driving a train under inhospitable climatic conditions. The new entrants will
be trained for six days on the simulator and seniors are asked to attend a two-day refresher
course once in every three years.

12.3.3 Simulators

Simulators are devices that can replicate the conditions and experience of an actual job. Simulators
are quite advantageous for learning when it is practically not possible to train on the job with
real equipments for reasons of safety, quality or customer service. A flight simulator used for
airline pilot training and a simulator used for training on control of a nuclear power plant are
ideal examples of simulators. Figure 12.4 shows a flight simulator.

Figure 12.4: Flight Simulator

They are expensive to buy and install for training purpose. But in some cases they are indispensable
for training on account of eliminating safety risks in the real workplace. Simulators are not the
actual equipments used in the real workplace, but a replication of them for using in the training.

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