Human Factors in Railway Digitalisation and Automation

In the project Next Generation Railway Systems at the German Aerospace Center, we investigate upcoming changes of workplaces in the railway domain with increasing digitalisation and automation. Focus of our research is the concept of Situation Awareness and its application in the rail context. Situation Awareness is a mental representation of the current situation necessary for an anticipation of the near future and thus essential for reacting quickly and appropriately in order to ensure a safe railway system. This leads to the assumption, that rail signallers and train drivers need to maintain a high level of Situation Awareness at all times. In our research we investigate how increasing automation and assistance and a shift from manual tasks to mainly supervision and monitoring influence the Situation Awareness in train drivers and rail signallers. In a first step, we developed a toolbox for measuring Situation Awareness in the rail context. In a second step, two separate simulator studies were carried out to compare workload scores and Situation Awareness in two distinct samples (signallers and train drivers) under different levels of automation. From the results we derive suggestions how train drivers and signallers can be supported in keeping up Situation Awareness. The studies also show that general workload measures are significantly below a subjectively perceived optimal level of workload for both signallers and train drivers in automated settings. The subjective workload of signallers during work in the automated system increases abruptly in case of a disruption. Based on the study results, user centred concepts for the workplaces and the respective user interfaces including new assistance functions are developed, e.g. for disruption management. In a next step, the concepts will be evaluated with signallers and train drivers