Edinburgh Tram Human Factors
Siemens Mobility
background
Edinburgh is at the heart of a region of over one million people with the city's population expected to grow rapidly over the next 20 years. As the city's catchment area expands, traffic congestion and pollution will increasingly become an issue for the City to address. To ease future road congestion and ensure the economic growth of Edinburgh, the Edinburgh Tram Network (ETN) is being implemented to provide a sustainable form of transport for the nation's Capital.
Edinburgh Trams will deliver an 18km tram route which stretches from Edinburgh Airport to the west of the City, through the city centre, via the famous Princes Street, and out to the Newhaven area in the north east of Edinburgh. Once completed the tram route will provide an integrated transport network in partnership with Lothian Buses.
project
We were commissioned to look at the human factors issues around the control room and operations of the tram system by Siemens Mobility. Siemens are part of the BSC consortium, along with Bilfinger Berger and CAF, that is delivering the tram ready for operation.
Our scope of work included looking at the human interface of the control system (traction power/SCADA, tram control, CCTV and passenger information) and the design of the control room itself.
implementation
We worked closely with Siemens engineers and the representatives of Edinburgh Trams to understand how the tram would be operated and therefore how the control systems and control room needed to be designed to meet the operational requirements. We held a series of workshops and meetings to involve the project team in the assessment.
outcomes
We provided a comprehensive assessment of the project looking at how the design could be enhanced to enable better operations and therefore performance of the tram. The key aspect of this work was providing an additional linkage between operators and system designers to ensure a user-centered design was developed.
more information
For more information on Edinburgh Trams, visit their website. For further information on Siemens Mobility, click for their website