Lokpersonal Electronic Assistant
L okpersonal E lectronic A ssistant shortly LEA is a technical tool for drivers in Switzerland. The device belongs to the minimum equipment of the locomotive staff and must always be carried on duty. The system developed by the Swiss Federal Railways is not permanently installed in the locomotive, but consists of a personally assigned tablet that the driver carries with him.
Basics
For every train movement on the rail network, the train's driving regulations (FO) and the route table (RADN) of the route to be traveled must always be available. The LEA app installed on the device combines both on one surface and thus makes the work of the train driver easier. It is no longer possible to take route tables or driving regulations with you in paper form. The system is developed, maintained and operated by SBB and is used in freight and passenger transport, but also on private railways such as thurbo and Zentralbahn .
prehistory
The original LEA was introduced in 2001 and was a Psion netbook. It was replaced in 2009 by the LEA II, which consisted of a Fujitsu Lifebook T1010.
hardware
The current generation LEA 3 was put into operation in October 2012. Initially, the train drivers from SBB Cargo were equipped with the device, and since May 2013 the train drivers from SBB Personenverkehr have also been using it. The LEA 3 is an iPad and is based on two generations of devices, which do not differ in terms of functionality or operation. Initially, the iPad 4 was distributed, but an iPad Air 2 has now been handed in for new entrants or as a replacement in the event of a defect or loss . The current generation of devices (as of 2018) is the iPad 2017. The tablets are connected to the Internet via WLAN and 4G SIM card . They do not differ in hardware or equipment from commercially available iPads.
software
The name LEA always refers to the device. The actual core task of the device, the display of the driving order and route table, is performed by the LEA app installed on the device . Parallel to this, in the background of the LEA app, the WarnApp and Adaptive Steering (ADL) applications run, which are intended to additionally support the train driver in performing his work. The driving order is displayed locally and does not require an internet connection, but the additional ADL and WarnApp functions are dependent on communication with the operations center.
All relevant information about the journey is displayed in the LEA app. Planned diversions and speed restrictions are automatically displayed, but the prerequisite for this is that the device is synchronized before starting work. This process takes a few seconds and brings the information about the journey and the route up to date. Unforeseen detours can be activated by simply tapping the appropriate field in the app, and the correct route table for the detour route appears immediately.
In addition to the LEA app, all regulations, such as the FOT's driving regulations, the rosters of the locomotive staff, checklists in the event of an incident, manuals for the locomotives, the business e-mail address and much more are on the device.
Fallback level
There are various fallback levels in the event of a fault. If the LEA fails before the start of the journey, the driving regulations can be printed out from any PC connected to the intranet or Internet and taken with you in paper form. The display corresponds exactly to that of the LEA app, so the paper solution is a full replacement until the personal device is replaced or repaired.
If the LEA fails while driving, the fallback level is on the driver's GSM-R cell phone. The above-mentioned representation of the LEA can also be generated and displayed as a PDF document using an internal service . However, this is not a permanent solution as the information on the cell phone's much smaller display is harder to read while driving.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Swiss Driving Regulations (FDV) A2016 Federal Office of Transport (FOT), July 1, 2016 (PDF; 3 MB). R 300.3, Section 5.2 Documents for the train driver and R300.13, Section 3.2.2 Timetable and route documents, commands
- ↑ The iPad in the driver's cab: increased efficiency, cost savings and better user satisfaction with a tablet. (PDF) SBB, accessed on October 24, 2014 .
- ↑ Paperless driver's cab: SBB equips staff with iPads ( Memento from December 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Contribution to the WarnApp. Tages Anzeiger, accessed June 20, 2017 .
- ↑ SBB Blog: SBB is surfing the green wave. SBB Blog, accessed on June 20, 2017 .