C.C Engineers, the Pune based Rail Simulation company, has developed a simulation solution for training drivers of locomotives and Metro trains. Indian Railways have been importing such simulators from Australia and France. This means that Indian Railways and various upcoming Metro train operators can substantially reduce capital costs and also provide training in the preferred local language.

Rail Simulators are used to train drivers in a high fidelity environment. Driver training is extremely important as it directly affects the safety of passengers. The Simulator consists of a loco cab with train instrumentation which accurately matches with that in a real locomotive. The behaviour of the train is modelled using simulation software. Actions taken by the trainee driver will generate a matching response from the vehicle. High quality projectors and sound systems are used to create different hazardous environments such as Rain and fog. Mathematical models of coaches and wagons coupled to the locomotive provide the trainee with information on coupler forces and other train dynamics resulting from the terrain, rail-path and rail – wheel interactions. These skills gain importance especially when the Indian railways are in the process of developing high speed goods trains to be run in the dedicated freight corridor.

As a result of multi-year research and training projects carried out in cooperation with various training institutes of the Indian Railways, CC has now indigenously completed the development of Rail simulators. To supplement available technology, CC has also developed the first of its kind vision technology SOVAC, which will allow the Railways to easily add track data to its simulators without depending on the simulator manufacturer. On the other hand the superior image quality provided by SOVAC will provide the trainee with predictive information that is useful in the development of perceptual cognitive component skills required for high speed train driving.

The first indigenously manufactured Loco Driver simulator was unveiled at the International Rail Equipment exhibition (IREE) held at Pragati Maidan organised jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industries and the Indian railways. The Railway Minister Mr. Dinesh Trivedi and the Minister of State for Rural development Mr.Shishir Adhikari visited the simulator and also had a brief ride in the same. Railway Board Member Mechanical- Mr. Sanjiv Handa, Member Electrical Mr. Kul Bhushan and the General Manger of Chittaranjan Locomotive Works Mr. Amar Nath also inspected the simulator and appreciated the progress made.