All aboard: Designing the trains of the future

The computers inside modern trains are already doing much of the driving. At train maker Alstom’s factory in Derby, engineers are testing how far that technology could eventually go. From braking to controlling doors to making passenger announcements, every part of a train now runs through a central computer. And inside a lab known as ‘Train Zero,’ those systems are being tested in depth before the trains are ever put on track. Class 701 Aventra is a brand-new, fresh-off-the-production-line British-built train being put through its paces on a dedicated test track at Alstom’s Derby site. Before it enters passenger service on the South Western Railway network, engineers are checking that every part of it performs as expected. While the train runs outside, much of the testing is happening indoors. Train Zero is a laboratory that recreates an entire train in digital form, using racks of hardware and software to simulate how systems behave on board. The facility is used to test multiple versions of the Aventra platform, including units now operating or in development for the Elizabeth Line, London Overground, East Anglia, West Midlands, and c2c. Train Zero allows engineers to test an entire train without needing one physically present. Each setup is a combination of real hardware, such as buttons, relays, and displays, as well as virtual systems that simulate how a full train would behave in motion. Jabeen Yousaf, a test and validation engineer at Alstom, says, “It feels satisfying to know that the system that we are testing here is robust, and we can, we're testing it thoroughly and finding as many defects or problems beforehand before it rolls out on the trains, and we know that how we've tested here that we have been able to fix as many issues as possible before it rolls on the train on the actual fleet.” Alongside the testing work in Train Zero, trains are being physically assembled inside the main production building. This article was provided by The Associated Press.