Background
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) trains its bus operators on simulators but has never had one for rail. Rail training runs on classroom instruction and supervised time on live equipment, which is valuable but leaves a gap once an operator finishes the initial programme. The events an operator most needs to rehearse are exactly the ones that cannot be staged safely in revenue service: a train losing propulsion, a brake fault, a signal failure, a snowstorm, or a single-tracked work zone.
The challenge
CTA put the problem to outside innovators through its Innovation Studio in September 2025, asking for a lightweight, portable simulator that mirrors its own rail lines and railcar cabs rather than a generic train sim. The agency set out what it wanted in unusual detail:
- a cab modelled on the 5000- or 7000-series railcars
- a footprint small enough to sit on a desk and move between facilities
- variation in weather and time of day
- an Automatic Train Control signalling environment
- emphasis on two failure modes above all: troubleshooting a propulsion loss, and a brake fault
Applications closed on 21 October 2025, with shortlisted teams presenting to CTA stakeholders in the first week of December.
The deployment
Six teams applied. CTA selected the Center for Research in Railway Technologies (CITEF), a railway research centre attached to the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid that builds training simulators for rail operators internationally. The Chicago Transit Board authorised a one-year pilot agreement in August 2026, along with a $75,000 stipend for CITEF to develop the tool.
How it works
The simulator pairs a virtual-reality headset with a physical operator console, so a trainee sees the view down the track in the headset while working real controls rather than a mouse and keyboard. It models CTA's 5000-series railcar and a stretch of four consecutive stations, and covers scenarios that are difficult to reproduce on a working railway: loss of propulsion, brake faults, signal failures, adverse weather, and temporary service patterns such as single-tracking.
The design brief pushed hard on portability. CTA asked for something that could be set up in the space of a desk and stationed at one location, typically a rail terminal, then relocated to other facilities as needed. That is a deliberate contrast with a fixed full-cab simulator, and it is what makes the tool a supplement to initial training rather than a replacement for time on live equipment.
What happens next
The pilot is authorised for one year. CTA has committed Rail Operations staff to help validate scenarios and training content, and will supply track geometry data for the modelled section. Neither the date the simulator starts working with crews nor the criteria CTA will use to judge a system-wide rollout has been announced; scaling beyond the pilot would run through a separate procurement.
