23rd International Railway Safety Conference
Vancouver, Canada
Development of Ergonomic Evaluation
Technology for Improvement of Work
Environment in Driver's Cabs
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Chanwoo Park, Donbum Choi,
Sanglog Kwak, Jongbae Wang
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Background
 Railway accidents caused by train drivers continuously occur.
 Major parts of human factor-related accidents are associated with drivers.
 Drivers' errors may lead to major railway accidents such as train derailment.
2
Background
 Human factor engineering has been studied focusing on human-system interaction
in order to help users use the system in a convenient and safe way.
 Human factor engineering has been studied centering on cars and airplanes in Korean
transportation sector.
 That implies that the research on rail human factors is required.
 The projects for a driver's cab were completed in Europe, e.g.
- EUDD (European Driver's Desk, 2001-2003)
- MODTRAIN/EUCAB (2004-2008)
- EUDDplus (a driver's desk for Europe, 2006-2010)
3
Background
 As for the railway field in Korea, the standard on driver's cab has been
recently proposed as part of the guidelines on locomotive vehicle safety standard.
 But studies on ergonomic design considering domestic driver's physical
characteristics are insufficient.
 In this context, Korea Railroad Research Institute has tried with this research
project since 2011.
Cab
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Research Objective
 This presentation introduces the results of this research project.
 As for the research methods, we have tried to achieve the safety of railway
vehicles by applying system engineering and various ergonomic approaches.
 This shall be the Korea`s first research into ergonomic evaluation and improvement
of locomotive cabs.
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Design with human physical features
 Design alternatives cost less and have a great potential influence during concept design.
 Statistic body measures and features of each nation are different.
 Reflecting physical features of drivers shall be important during concept design .
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Human-Machine Interface in Locomotive Cabs
 The locomotive cab is the place where core equipment is centered.
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International Standard and Regulation
 UIC 651 leaflet provides train minimum and maximum physical dimensions
for designing the locomotive cab and basic space requirements in numerical values.
 TSI provides that the same criteria as those of UIC 651 should be followed.
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Development of Requirements for the Improvement of Driving Cabs
 Korean government is about to revise ‘railway safety act’ and related guidelines completely
as part of ‘rail safety strengthening measures’.
 Especially, among these regulations, a bill is being carried forward regarding driving cabs
 The establishment of regulations and guidelines on railway safety provides crucial standards for
the development of locomotive vehicles.
 Therefore, it is important to derive requirements to establish regulations on railroad safety
because the requirements are directly connected to the safety of locomotive vehicles.
Creation of
requirements
Identification of
Requirement
elements
Reconstruction
of sentences
Examination
of requirements
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Requirement Development Procedure
Preceding
research
Development of requirement architecture
activity process
Categories based on comparison/analysis
of Preceding research
Presentation of an integral
system category for work
environment in locomotive
driving cabs
Establishment of requirement management
system referring to the system scope
Creation of requirements
Presentation of requirement creation
template & guideline
Requirement change complying with
domestic standards. Presentation of
application plan through regulations
Derivation of assessment
requirements
Establishment of environment following the
development of requirement assessment
procedure
Development of relevant regulations and
assessment procedure through requirement
architecture activity
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Korean Train Driver' s Physical Characteristics
11
Korean Train Driver Body Models
12
Cases of Application according to Korean Driver Body Models
(Subway Line No. 2 VVVF electric locomotive)
 Evaluation of Visibility for Korean Virtual Drivers
Classification
Driver' seat
UIC 651
5% Korean female
100 mm forward
95% Korean male
-
No adjustment
High signals
Within 10 m
4.1 m
3.9 m
5.9 m
Low signals
Within 15 m
29.9 m
10.9 m
6.9 m
adjustment
60 mm upward
No adjustment
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Cases of Application according to Korean Driver Body Models
(Subway Line No. 2 VVVF electric locomotive)
 Operability of Horn Valve (Driver' s Seat Adjustment, 5th Percentile Female Driver)
It is hard to operate the horn valve
at the bottom of the driver' s seat
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Application Cases according to Physical Characteristics
(7400 Series Locomotive)
 In order to evaluate the appropriateness of train driver human body models,
7400 series locomotive was selected and modeled.
 The appropriateness was evaluated based on developed ergonomic requirements.
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Application Cases according to Physical Characteristics
(7400 Series Locomotive)
 Drivers who look at tracks forward should change their position to operate a control.
 Driver Workspace (Looking Ahead)
 Driver Gaze in the Seating Posture
Driver Gaze in the Seating Posture
(Operation of Control Systems)
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Application Cases according to Physical Characteristics
(7400 Series Locomotive)
 The microphone was also in the opposite location.
 The radio is out of the maximum working area.
 Only one side of track is visible from the driver seat.
 It is hard to operate controls in standing position
because the space between the controls and the driver seat is narrow.
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Application Cases according to Physical Characteristics
(7400 Series Locomotive)
The improved model of the cab of 7400 series locomotive
The task load and the human errors of divers quantitatively were evaluated
using NASA-TLX(Task Load Index)and HEAR (Human Error Analysis and Reduction) method.
Real
model
improved
model
 The human errors and
the task-load were reduced
substantially.
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Conclusion
 This study
• Compared domestic drivers ' physical characteristics to proceeding studies
• Considered ergonomic elements for the placement of workspace and equipments
• Developed ergonomic evaluation guidelines, requirements, CAD models and
evaluation S/W for local locomotive cab designs.
Accordingly, we will be able to
• Use the results to draw out improvements for locomotive cabs currently in service
• Apply those results to ergonomic evaluation for the next MMIS design of locomotive
cabs.
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UIC Asia Project on the Layout of Drivers' Cab in Asian Rail Vehicle
 A guideline which defines requirements for Asian driver's cabs will be created.
- Asian drivers' sizes will be analyzed and Asian anthropometric averages will be
gained to find Asian universal dimensions having adequate adjustability.
- Work environment including dimension, layout, visibility, seats, driver's desk and
main equipment will be investigated for comfortable and efficient cab design.
- Requirements for each element will be generated.
- Collection of opinions from Asian railway organizations,
use of computer-aided design and simulation will be conducted.
 Duration: September, 2013 - 2014
 Call for the participant organization & country to support and consult the project.
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Thank you!
감사합니다.
E-mail: cwpark@krri.re.kr