For many, opportunities to experience Control Centres and Driver simulators are few and far between. The day job takes precedence and being able to persuade your boss that one of these visits would be worthwhile is sometimes easier said than done. Thankfully organisations like London Underground and the Institution of Railway Operators are happy to open their doors to operators who want to develop their knowledge and understanding of the rail industry.
In this case, managers of the Jubilee Line opened the doors of their Neasden Control Centre & Driver simulator to 19 IRO South East members. These members took time out of their Retail, Train Planning & frontline roles to get a glimpse of just what goes on behind the scenes.
The group was split into smaller groups to give everyone a chance to get some hands on experience of driving a Jubilee Line train, initially in ATO mode and than manually. ATO, or Automatic Train Operation (where the train drives itself), is something which has been in use for many years on lines such as the Victoria and Central but has only recently been rolled out to the newest part of the Underground network.
To accompany the chance to ‘drive a train’ there was also the chance to see how these trains are controlled. One of the most interesting aspects of the trains is that they can actually be stopped remotely by the Control Centre Operator in the case of a driver being incapacitated.
There was plenty of positive feedback from those that attended and thanks goes to Ray Barrett and his team for a very enjoyable trip to a part of the railway you don’t get to see everyday.