ProRail is responsible for the railway network in the Netherlands and collaborates with the transport providers to ensure the safe and timely arrival of people and goods at their destination.
One of the challenges of ProRail has been to adjust its strategy to accommodate the ever-increasing demand for punctuality. While several high-speed inter-city trains operate in the Netherlands, their routes are shared with local (slower) trains. Ensuring the timely departure, and networking the system depends on several inter-connected elements. One of these is the rail operator, who must detect, process and act upon information from multiple sources.
While simulation can provide a powerful tool, finding the right simulation for the job requirements is not easy.
IDT developed a “Railway Simulation Roadmap”, which objectively defines the technical specification based on the research questions. This roadmap takes into consideration the pallet of possible simulation features and aims to determine the minimum technical requirement coupled to the desired research objectives. As a result, the user can:
– Objectively determine the needed simulator features
– Justify the budget for the acquisition of the device
– Engage in discussions with providers based on analytical results (and not marketing)
This roadmap is further defined here