Investigating Strategies in Rail Signalling: Comparison of Simulation Methods

Two simulation methods used to study signaller decision-making strategies are described and compared through experimentation. The first method was a ‘static scenario’ method in which expert participants were presented with... [ view full abstract ]

Two simulation methods used to study signaller decision-making strategies are described and compared through experimentation. The first method was a ‘static scenario’ method in which expert participants were presented with printouts from a simulated scenario and asked to give their strategy for routing the trains in the area. The second was a more traditional dynamic simulation undertaken on the same high fidelity simulator. The first method allowed greater control over the experiment and presents interesting opportunities for collecting additional qualitative data from participants, but the second method was more realistic and featured improved participant performance.