If CBTC was a Person...

In recent posts you saw me linking Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) to subjects as diverse as real estate, crystal balls and Usain Bolt. Therefore you may not find it too much quirkier if I ponder now about what type of person CBTC would likely be. I'll give you three archetypes and you can pick the one you find most fitting.

CBTC Persona A: The Mousie

The inner dialogue of this candidate is something like: "Some people think I can do wonderful things, but I'm not so sure. It can be quite disappointing when I am applied the wrong way, and then everyone thinks it is my fault. And I do know that I am costly, which is why many criticise me even more. I better sit here quietly and hope that no decision-maker notices me."

CBTC Persona B: The Loudmouth

Enter this alternative: "I always knew I am the greatest, and all other signalling systems are just, well, lame safety watchdogs limiting rail performance. I however can kick capacity through the roof, excel in punctuality and anyway, if people cannot use me properly they are just plain stupid."

CBTC Persona C: The Rock

In this case, the inner dialogue is more like: "I know what I can, even if some people misinterpret or misuse me for less than optimal results, which I know has nothing to do with me. I am worth every dollar they spend for me, and if utilised correctly I enable better rail operations than people ever thought possible."

Which one is it?

Did you find this too easy? Persona C of course, the quietly confident one, that's how CBTC would surely be as a person. Okay, let's now shift to the people promoting and working with CBTC. What kind of character should they be like?

Persona B (the Loudmouth) is a risky proposition. Many things can go wrong in applying CBTC, which is not really a flaw of the technology but still leaves rail operators disappointed. And the advocates of good-ol' conventional signalling are like snipers behind the hedges, just waiting for a glitch or the occasional "I don't know" or "I can't".

Persona A (the Mousie) will most likely not even convince anyone that CBTC might be a brilliant idea in the first place.

Leaves Persona C (the Rock), the quiet confident one. What a coincidence, or is it not? But how do you gain confidence when CBTC is a new emerging trend in your organisation, you can see that you will get affected, yet you (pssssst!) have no clue?

Key objectives of good CBTC training

I don't know about other CBTC trainings (in fact, there aren't any in Australia, really), but the CBTC Kickstarter course is not so much about Learning, it is about Understanding. I'm sure you will see the difference. And it is about building Confidence that CBTC is something YOU CAN get your head around, even if you had no prior signalling knowledge. It's no fun if you always felt inferior to 'those signalling geeks' and now there is an allegedly even more complex and mysterious technology emerging that you fear you would understand even less. You may find yourself avoiding discussions with colleagues, hiding behind 'business as usual' and suddenly left behind with the other "dinosaurs who cannot get used to technical progress".

In the last CBTC Kickstarter courses, the average results between the pre-course test and the final exam improved from 46% to whopping 95%. So much about learning success with a 150-page script over only two days. What's even cooler is the improvement in self-assessed CBTC competence of participants from a pre-course 18% to a post-course 63% (rail people tend to be modest, remember?). This is pure growth in confidence, with the exam success merely being an external confirmation. 

So if you have a chance to be in Melbourne on 6-7 March 2019 (blimey, that's next week, hurry!), go for your own confidence boost and register for CBTC Kickstarter. It is your future, do not leave it to others!

Frank Heibel is creator of the unique CBTC Kickstarter training and founder/director of the boutique high-performance signalling consultancy, Doc Frank. He advises client project teams in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth on the implementation of CBTC.