Lucid has been commissioned by Network Rail to redevelop a specialist software package, the Route Drivability Tool (RDT).

The software, initially developed by human factors consultancy Human Engineering, allows signalling engineers and ergonomists to assess the impact of a signalling scheme design on a train driver’s workload: the ‘drivability’ of a route.

The Lucid technical team are redeveloping the software as a web-based application. This will eliminate the problems posed by the previous CD-based distribution, and allow online data sharing and instant updates. The speed of the system will be improved and future maintenance will be much easier due to the software being redeveloped in ASP.NET.

Finally, the user interface of the RDT is being redesigned so that all areas of the application have a consistent look and feel, and an easy-to-navigate layout.

The new online RDT is due to launch in September.