Prueba de freno ferroviaria

A 90-minute, 4-round basic Express simulation for Spanish vocational training (Formacion Profesional), module 0974 Sistemas de frenos en material rodante ferroviario of the Tecnico en Mantenimiento de Material Rodante Ferroviario (Real Decreto 1145/2012).

The learner is Nerea Ulibarri, a newly qualified rolling-stock maintenance technician on the brake faults of the Pedrosilla depot of a fictional regional railway operator, Ferrovia Vallarrubia.

Four situations set the depot's course in 2027: a compressor that will not stop, and how the unit is made safe before any fitting is opened (parking brake, wheels chocked, cab key withdrawn, movements blocked, the circuit section isolated, vented and at zero) and how the pressures are read (calibrated test gauges, the pressure drop timed against the maker's leak limit, the event memory downloaded); a car whose brake drags, and how the leak is found (branch by branch, leak-detection liquid, only the leaking part replaced) and the distributor valve checked (tested on the car against the manual, the replacement bench-tested); a longer stopping distance, and how the bogie brake is checked (pads, discs, stroke and slack adjuster against the maker's values) and how the unit is declared fit (a complete static brake test, not fit if any point fails); and the annual review of how each fault is reported (root cause, serial numbers, the entity in charge of maintenance) and closed (thirty days of follow-up, repeated faults reviewed).

A false fit on a brake is the one error that cannot be allowed. Scored on the brake faults right first time, the cost of the brake-fault work, the hours of immobilisation per fault and the components replaced without need; training-level decision practice that complements the module's supervised practical work, the depot's procedures and the makers' manuals, with no pressure, leak rate, wear limit or procedure given.

Two critical safety errors cap the round at 40: fittings loosened with the circuit under pressure and the unit not chocked (Real Decreto 1215/1997, Annex II, point 1.14), and the unit signed fit with the leak above the manual's limit (the false fit). Spanish primary, English parity.

An introductory simulation that assumes no prior knowledge of the subject, designed for undergraduate courses. It also works in vocational and high-school programmes and in onboarding sessions.