Welcome to our recurring post, Rail Tech Talk, highlighting how technology is helping the Rail Industry move forward.
EU’s Horizon 2020 Projects Rolling Out
The European Union has an exciting variety of railway projects it’s pursuing as part of its Horizon 2020 effort. There’s Shift2Rail, which is focused on research and innovation; Roll2Rail moving those ideas to development; and the timely Greenrail, with a focus on sustainability. The most interesting of all though, from our standpoint, is the X2Rail-1 project. Its focus on next generation automation systems and cybersecurity is cutting edge.
And it “has the potential to reduce costs and improve efficiencies.” One way to do that, of course, is through simulation training, as workers can practice on newly deployed systems anytime, anywhere – and at their own pace.
Next Generation Train Technology in Japan
Did you know that “Japan is the first country in the world that used high speed train technology”? And “having started in 1964, the Shinkansen line is the world’s busiest high-speed train line.”
So, it should come as no surprise to find them leading the way in both cutting edge and cutting speed train technology. “The Japanese official said SCMaglev saw 603 km speed in tests, but the maximum speed would be 500 km during commercial use, emphasizing their priority is safety, not speed.”
And that commitment to safety, combined with the country’s technological leadership, will likely result in equally robust simulation trainings to match their transformative training protocols.
Be sure to check out our Rail Virtual Training Solutions to see why BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern partnered with Heartwood to deploy a variety of inspection simulations, trainings and guides. And if you have any questions about these technologies, please reach out!
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