Using less energy than cars and planes, trains are one of the easiest, fastest, and greenest ways to get around. “You can read on the train, you can check your emails on the train, you can talk — I mean, it’s just really comfortable. And I’m working on modernizing and adapting it to the current digital transformation,” explains Laura Fernández Nieto who product manages rail trackside infrastructure.
Due to the vast amount of heavy infrastructure trains rely on, they are vulnerable to a world of problems like delays and cancellations. From the tracks to the signals, this bulky hardware is expensive to maintain, putting extra pressure on railway providers.
A train to suit the terrain
Since coming into their own in the early 19th century, trains are used by people all over the world to get from A to B. Japan has the fastest (with some reaching up to 267 miles per hour) while, in America, Amtrack’s Superliners are some of the tallest. In Switzerland, the trains are designed to tackle inclines. “Amid these spectacular surrounds,” says Laura, “the infrastructure has a lot to live up to.”
Home to glaciers, lakes, and mountains, Switzerland is a picture-book country. But as beautiful as it might be, all those steep slopes and tunnels mean the country has had to keep one step ahead of the game when it comes to planning their railway system.
When a small local railway provider came to Siemens in Switzerland about helping to upgrade some of their ageing infrastructure, it quickly turned into an opportunity to really push the boundaries of how trains work. Especially as the line had an 8.0% gradient, making it the steepest adhesion railway in Switzerland.
Virtualizing the railways
Located in St Gallen, an Alpine town in north-west Switzerland not far from the border with Liechtenstein, Laura was responsible for different products in the project — including the interlocking system. Essentially the brains of the railways, interlocking is an arrangement of signal apparatus that makes it impossible for trains to use tracks at junctions and crossings unless it is 100% safe to do so.
Traditionally, interlocking plants are kept very close to the tracks and rely on complex architecture and a lot of expensive cabling. They also forced railway providers to rent or buy big buildings in very specific locations to house them. But, by using the cloud, Laura and her colleagues came up with a way of housing everything at a data center that was 60km away.
“It’s a totally new concept,” says Laura. “It’s like renting a car versus buying a car. Before you had to buy the car but now you can lease it, pay your rent and then after a year the rental company upgrade it for you.” Known as SIaaS (Siemens Interlocking as a Service) it represents the first phase of getting rid of unnecessary hardware altogether.
“We asked the customer if we could showcase our new idea. They were fascinated and we’re working on lots of new additional features, like creating a backup in case there’s a fire, vandalism or a terrorist incident.”
And that’s just one innovation. In the future, the entire train traffic management system could also be housed offsite in a data center. “We could host it in the cloud along with the interlocking,” Laura explains. “Not only would that be a huge reduction in overheads for the company, but they could also control different stations from the same point.”
There’s more than one route into trains
Switzerland has a reputation for punctual, safe, and sophisticated trains. But that’s not the same everywhere. “I grew up in Spain, where it’s normal for trains to be five minutes late, but that would never happen in Switzerland. They’re so incredibly reliable here,” she says.
Laura moved to Switzerland almost eight years ago, having studied in Germany and worked in Spain. As a teenager, she followed her first passion — chemistry — into university but soon after graduating realized she didn’t want to be stuck in a lab day in, day out. “I really love working with people,” she explains. “In my job at the moment, I work with so many different types of people — from the factory floor to senior managers and the customers themselves.”
After graduating from university in Spain and spending two years in Germany, both studying a quality management seminar and working, Laura returned to Spain. “When I was back in Spain I found a job as a consultant in the railway system working with the new high-speed trains and the European Train Control System,” she remembers. “I really loved the idea that every country uses the same control system for trains so it doesn’t matter whether you’re in Spain, France or the UK — you can travel using the same system and have no delays at the country borders and make the European train drivers’ daily work easier, independently of their nationality.”
At the time, the European Union was investing in high-end infrastructure projects in Spain and Laura got to be at the forefront of it all. “Even then it was quite a traditional sector,” she adds. “But that’s all changed with Industry 4.0.” After seeing an opportunity come up in Switzerland, she jumped at the chance to live in one of the most beautiful parts of the world and work on some of the best feats of engineering in the world.
Just a 20-minute drive from home and Laura can be in the Alps with her two sons. “I love nature,” she says. “I love hiking and being among really big mountains.” But just like everything in her life, she likes balance. When she’s not outside, she’s at the cinema watching foreign films or at her local yoga studio. “If my parents were to describe me, they’d say I am flexible,” she explains. “Whether it’s chemistry or working in trains, I give it my all. I don’t always tell people the amount of hard work I put into everything I do because I want the work to speak for itself.”
Laura Fernández Nieto is a Product Manager for electronic interlocking. Born in Spain, she studied in Germany before venturing into the world of trains. She now lives in Switzerland with her two sons. Find out more about working at Siemens.
Laura is one of the many talented people working with us to make real what matters.
