Soon, railway staff to be trained via VR to maintain locals

Mumbai: While the Indian Railways (IR) is celebrating 100 years of the first electricity-powered train journey between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Kurla on February 3, 1925, the 100-year-old car shed at Kurla, which played a pivotal role in the journey, is transforming the way railway staff are trained to maintain Mumbai’s local trains.

In a first for the IR, the car shed has adopted a Virtual Reality (VR) based training system for repairing coaches, which is currently undergoing testing and is expected to go live later this month. The beta version of the system is currently on display at the exhibition at CSMT to mark the centenary.

VR for coach maintenance

Built in 1925, the Kurla car shed is located on the western side of the railway tracks between Kurla and Vidyavihar stations. It has around 500-600 staff who work in three shifts to maintain 70-75 rakes of local trains. The workers undertake periodic overhauling of the rakes over 3 days to 18 months, depending on the need and schedule. Approval has been granted to enhance the holding capacity of the car shed to accommodate more rakes, said sources.

The VR-based training system, procured in January this year, has been installed in the laboratory on the premises. It comprises a large screen, a headset, a handheld controller, gloves and other paraphernalia.

Currently, railway officials and engineers are configuring the system with details of various components of local trains. Information on bogies, wheels and springs has been fed into the system, while details about seats, doors, windows, lights, fans, roof and pantographs will be added in due course, said railway officials.

“We are in the process of finalising the VR-based module that will be used to train the staff on repairing the smallest of components to the largest of equipment in a local train,” an official at the laboratory told Hindustan Times.

Around him, engineers along with vendors of the VR system were checking various components/ parameters of a bogie such as fasteners, bolts, screws, brake pads, oil levels and wheel profile on the large screen placed on the wall. The engineers were adjusting the sensitivity of the control panel as trainees were finding it difficult to grab and get used to the handheld controller and other tools.

“There is ample scope to add in the VR system whatever aspects of training we want to incorporate, along with the graphic interface,” said a CR official. Details about various components in local train coaches will be added in due course when rakes come in for routine and periodic maintenance, he added.

“We expect the training module to be ready in 10-15 days,” said the official. “The module will provide details about repairing every component of a local train coach, making it easier for our staff to take up repair work in physical coaches.”

An old barrack inside the car shed is being refurbished into a training centre. It will have four classrooms, each accommodating 40-60 trainees and equipped with the VR-based training system.

“The system will be installed there when everything is finalised and ready to be rolled out,” said the official. “Once fully developed and deployed, it can be replicated at other car sheds and maintenance depots.”

VR for motormen

In July 2024, a similar VR-based training system for motormen was inaugurated at the CSMT. An advanced version of driving simulators, with the outer body in the shape of a motor cab, this system is far more advanced that the one being tested at the Kurla car shed.

For instance, while the headgear at Kurla shows only the low framework on which coaches are mounted, at CSMT, the headgear shows the entire driving panel with buttons and levers along with the platform and railway tracks. The graphics in the VR-based system for motormen are also more advanced than the one being tested at Kurla.

The VR-based module for motormen is available in multiple languages. It has 10 segments, includes periodic visual and verbal instructions, and involves the use of various bodily gestures like moving forward, behind and sideways, standing and sitting.

“Training on this VR system is very realistic as it takes into account almost every detail while a train is running,” a motorman told HT. “But it is also time-consuming.”

This is because trainees need to get used to the controls in the system, which is difficult and many end up repeating the same action multiple times until they get a hang of it, he explained.

The training module has 10 segments and motormen are expected to go through all 10 segments to complete their training. Between July last year and January this year, around 860 motormen have undergone training on the VR-based system, with 6-8 motormen being trained in a day, said sources.

“Newbies take an hour to complete the training, but for those experienced in using the system, it takes 30-35 minutes,” said the motorman quoted earlier.

CR is also working on a similar VR-based system for repairing locomotives that pull long-distance trains, and trials on the system are already underway, said sources.