The subway system is no different from the renowned Swiss watch: all its systems work as precise and as accurate. Safety of millions of passengers who choose the subway as their primary transportation method remains the main goal: mistakes are fatal. A single train holds up to 1000 people, and it’s the driver who’s responsible for the life of every one of them.

Training subway train drivers is a very time-consuming and complicated task. In this article, the reader will become acquainted with how Smart Simulation used UNIGINE 2 Sim 3D platform to make said task safe, accurate, and efficient.

The goal is to create a precise copy of the Moscow subway ecosystem for trainees to develop a set of skills for operating through regular and emergency scenarios.

Project start: 2020.

Few facts about Moscow Subway

Moscow Subway is known to be №1 in the world in terms of safety, traffic intensity and volume, and top 3 in terms of other criteria.

Programmer’s challenge

When it comes to railroad and subway simulators, their main complication is how massive and detailed every virtual scene is and how fast it is being rendered in real-time. Not every 3D engine is capable of such, but the UNIGINE 2 Sim platform is designed and optimized specifically for rendering complex and condensed virtual scenes.

“For me, UNIGINE’s best feature is that it’s a C++ library, not a stand-alone programming environment, it makes project integration and compilation easier. Its architecture is intuitive and it helps to get acquainted pretty apace and start prototyping. Using 64-bit double-precision floating-point values for object transformations allows to easily work with large virtual scenes. API is fully documented.”

Artyom Suravikin, Smart Simulation lead developer

Driver training using the Smart Simulation system vastly surpasses real-life training: a stationary simulator takes up little space and is way safer than using an actual train. Virtual simulator format eliminates risks of injury, rules out additional wear out of trains and subway infrastructure, and allows a trainee to get necessary skills without leaving their chair. In other words, a virtual simulator saves money, time, and lives.

The subway simulator is powered by UNIGINE 2 Sim programming platform. It was used to implement program logic and the visual part of the subway world.

Automated Virtual Scene Generation

Moscow subway structure is utterly divaricated and makes it hard to manually recreate its digital twin. In order to automate this process, Smart Simulation developers used UNIGINE 2 Sim platform, which allows virtual scenes generation using geodata (GIS).

Scenario Diversification

In order to maximally diversify train ride scenarios, UNIGINE API was used by the developer team to create a special tool named Railroad Editor.

Among other features, Railroad Editor allows selecting a starting point as subway trains can start from any of 21 existing depots. Moreover, this Editor lets to set any procedural or emergency scenario that can happen to a train driver trainee during a ride.

Realistic Weather

Some parts of the Moscow Subway infrastructure and lines lay on the surface. In order to make a true-to-life visualization throughout all the way, the developer’s team used the High-Level Weather component of UNIGINE 2 Sim, which contains realistic weather effects, including snow, rain, thunderstorms, fog, mist, with controllable and adjustable density, intensity, etc. according to the desirable scenario.

Thoroughly Recreated Stations Interiors

The renowned architecture of the Moscow Subway is one of the most beautiful and sophisticated in the world, and every station is unique. Smart Simulation artists' main task was to recreate it in all its glory in the virtual world, and UNIGINE 2 Sim platforms’ to dynamically visualize it in real-time.

Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaia line (purple line) is fully recreated, modeling of all 24 stations of Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaia (orange line) is done, and as well as 12 stations of Koltsevaia Line (brown line). All the brass panels of the Turgenevskaia station and arctic decorations of the Medvedkovo platform are recreated in virtual space, along with dozens of marble and granite kinds used in stations halls decor, as well as crystal fixtures and chandeliers.

All the beautiful stations' features are thoroughly recreated by the Smart Simulation development team. Artists are now working on subway hauls between the Koltsevaia station and the Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaia line.

Train Fleet in Detail

At the moment, the subway simulator project embodies a highly-detailed 81-765 train model (Moscow). All the controls elements of the real train cabin are in place. Train interiors are recreated in detail including the equipment under drop boxes.

The number of trains in the Simulator is planned to be expanded with not only new models but also historically famous trains.

True-to-life operation

In the Subway simulator, every trainee has an option to choose between two types of operation: point-of-view mode and explorer mode.

In the point-of-view mode, a user is completely immersed in the train operating process as it is designed to be true-to-life to the maximum extent: gradual acceleration and deceleration, door slide, etc. In the exploration mode, a user is able to get acquainted with stations themselves, and, in perspective, with any sightseeing attractions within reach.

Further Prospects

This project’s main goal is to create a simulator for subway driver training. Also, traffic light logic, train operating logic, pedestrian traffic imitation are being developed at the moment.

Moreover, there’s an ongoing implementation of NPCs (non-playable characters) who operate other subway trains in order to create an illusion of traffic. The developer team works on AI (Artificial Intelligence) to autonomize this process.

Smart Simulation’s team plans to implement the Moscow subway ecosystem in full: information boards functioning on every station, first-person view when walking down stations and from line to line on connecting stations, subway rides, exiting to the street.

One way or another, all the further ambitions of the Smart Simulation team are feasible due to UNIGINE 2 Sim’s vast functionality.

About UNIGINE 2 Sim

UNIGINE 2 Sim is a photorealistic real-time programming platform, proprietary 3D Engine of UNIGINE company with its R&D team located in Tomsk, Russia. UNIGINE 2 Sim combines visual quality from the entertainment industry with professional simulation and training features. It is designed and optimized specifically for rendering large, complex, and condensed virtual scenes.