Perceived impacts of stressful events on train driver performance.

Acute stress exposure can significantly impact a train driver's capacity to maintain safe train operations. However, research examining how train drivers perceive the impacts of acute stressors is limited. This study investigated train driver perceptions regarding performance impacts of stressful events and potential strategies for reducing negative impacts. 71 Australian train drivers were presented with three stressful event scenarios via an online survey and asked to rate the impacts on driving performance. Results showed that participants perceived that stress would enhance performance, but that impacts differed depending on the event type. The findings suggest that train drivers may not be subjectively aware of negative impacts of acute stress, which has important practical implications for risk management following an incident. Qualitative results revealed the most frequently reported stress impact related to cognition. Practical implications and future research directions to prevent and manage stressful event exposure are discussed.

Causes, consequences and countermeasures to driver fatigue in the rail industry: The train driver perspective.

Fatigue is an important workplace risk management issue. Within the rail industry, the passing of a stop signal (signal passed at danger; SPAD) is considered to be one of the most major safety breaches which can occur. Train drivers are very aware of the negative consequences associated with a SPAD. Therefore, SPADs provide a practical and applied safety relevant context within which to structure a discussion on fatigue. Focus groups discussing contributing factors to SPADs were undertaken at eight passenger rail organisations across Australia and New Zealand (n = 28 drivers). Data relating to fatigue was extracted and inductively analysed identifying three themes: causes, consequences, and countermeasures (to fatigue). Drivers experienced negative consequences of fatigue, despite existing countermeasures to mitigate it. Organisational culture was a barrier to effective fatigue management. A fatigue assessment tool consistently informed rostering, however, shift swapping was commonplace and often unregulated, reducing any potential positive impact. In discussing fatigue countermeasure strategies, drivers talked interchangeably about mitigating task related fatigue (e.g. increasing cognitive load) and sleepiness (e.g. caffeine). Ensuring the concepts of fatigue and sleepiness are properly understood has the potential to maximise safety.

Investigations into the skills of modern and traditional train driving.

Rail operations are housed inside a complex and extremely dynamic system where work is distributed in time and space. The train driver has traditionally relied on their own decisions, plans, and actions to navigate the rail environment, but the use of modern driver systems that force how these activities are regulated has altered this dynamic. This paper reports the findings of a study that set out to investigate the skills of modern (enhanced display-based) and traditional (real world) train driving. Data were collected from a variety of UK domain experts (n = 45) using an innovative methodology that converged multiple techniques for knowledge elicitation and analysis. The findings are represented in a model of dynamic train control and discussed according to the specific features and nature of tracking skill in the rail domain. The utility of the model is demonstrated through work of its application to the design of a train simulator and research tool for systematic study of rail human factor issues.

Designing simulator tools for rail research: the case study of a train driving microworld.

The microworld simulator paradigm is well established in the areas of ship-navigation and spaceflight, but has yet to be applied to rail. This paper presents a case study aiming to address this research gap, and describes the development of a train driving microworld as a tool to overcome some common research barriers. A theoretical framework for microworld design is tested and used to explore some key methodological issues and characteristics of train driving, enhancing theory development and providing a useful guideline for the designers of other collision-avoidance systems. A detailed description is given of the ATREIDES (Adaptive Train Research Enhanced Information Display & Environment Simulator) microworld, which simulates the work environment of a train driver in a high-speed passenger train. General indications of the testable driving scenarios that may be simulated are given, and an example of an ATREIDES-based study is presented to illustrate its applied research potential. The article concludes with a review of the design process, considers some strengths and limitations, and explores some future initiatives towards enhancing the systematic study of rail research in the human factors community.

Laser-produced lithium plasma as a narrow-band extended ultraviolet radiation source for photoelectron spectroscopy.

Extended ultraviolet (EUV) emission characteristics of a laser-produced lithium plasma are determined with regard to the requirements of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The main features of interest are spectral distribution, photon flux, bandwidth, source size, and emission duration. Laser-produced lithium plasmas are characterized as emitters of intense narrow-band EUV radiation. It can be estimated that the lithium Lyman-alpha line emission in combination with an ellipsoidal silicon/molybdenum multilayer mirror is a suitable EUV source for an x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy microscope with a 50-meV energy resolution and a 10-mum lateral resolution.