History

On behalf of Rafail Shamilevich Valiev, founder and CEO of NovATrans R&D Center.

UPGRADING LABORATORY OF AUTOMATION AND TELEMECHANICS CHAIR OF THE URAL STATE UNIVERSITY OF RAILWAY TRANSPORT

The idea to establish a company was not a spontaneous one. We came to that idea in 2004, after completion of post-graduate studies at the Saint-Petersburg University of Railway Transport and returning to the ‘home’ Chair of Automation and Telemechanics at the Ural State University of Railway Transport (USURT). At that time, there were often serious issues regarding technical facilities of the training laboratory, and they gave an impetus to appearance of the company.

Topical issues of the training process

The issue was that during practical classes, students did not obtain necessary skills, because simulators used for practical training were considerably worn out and failed to represent the actual systems. Any of these students, once employed, would have faced many difficulties since the obsolete simulators failed to provide a comprehensive picture of the actual systems operated at the railways.

Such state of things prompted my actions, and I decided to upgrade the laboratory. These activities were approved and supported by my father, whose opinion is very important to me, as he is a teacher, too. As of the actual support, it came from senior students. One of the key players was the Department of Automation and Telemechanics of Sverdlovsk Railway.

What did we achieve? A perfect laboratory that became a landmark during guest tours of the University; excellent equipment that was helping future professionals. Moreover, many prospective students began to take a keen interest in the profession.

The laboratory itself proved to be very useful: it was attended by full- and part-time students as well as people upgrading their qualifications.

More energy was required to prepare new teaching aids that were revised under supervision of my father and myself. We followed the concept of ‘layman terms’, so the new aids contained all lectures written in understandable format. Besides, they included the complete course of lab practical classes.

FIRST ORDER

The first order was from the Liski Professional School (Voronezh Region). (Now – the Liski Industrial and Transport College named after А.К.Lysenko).

OFFICIAL COMPANY FOUNDATION

NovATrans Research and Development Center LLC was founded on March 04, 2009. The name included all the prerequisites: professional knowledge, relations to automation, telemechanics and railway transport as well as novelty. Besides, the idea was to emphasize we were endeavoring to study and produce something new rather than resell the goods.

Thanks to upgrading of the laboratory, the institution changed its status of technical school. It became the Professional Lyceum No.6 named after Lysenko (Liski, Voronezh Region).

RUSSIAN RAILWAYS: NEW HORIZONS FOR DEVELOPMENT

After the first successful experience, we did not rest on laurels. Thanks to active advertising and promotion of products, in 2010, we received the second order from the S&I (signaling and interlocking) division of Sverdlovsk Railway, i.e., from Russian Railways OJSC. (Project: Ekaterinburg, Ekaterinburg-Sortirovochnaya division, SC (signal center)-5)

PREPARATION OF TEACHING AIDS AND TRAINING COMPLEX CONCEPT

Simulators enable one to see devices in operation, obtain and hone trouble-shooting skills. However, to do that, one has to properly study the operation theory of a device or a system as well as maintenance algorithms and processes. This idea prompted the development of teaching aids (books and posters).

Completed projects: Yaroslavl Training Center.

PROPOSAL FOR REPLICATION OF SIMULATORS IN RUSSIAN RAILWAYS OJSC

That year, the company changed the logo, and our web-site was launched.

Our creative efforts were on the rise, too: two books were published at once supplemented by a set of posters.

In 2012, NovATrans R&D Center resumed supply of simulators to Russian Railways OJSC. One more technical training room was established in the Perm S&I division of Sverdlovsk Railway; it was equipped with unique state-of-the-art simulators.

The same year, our efforts were noticed by the management of the Department of Automation and Telemechanics of Russian Railways OJSC. That was a turning point for us, because our results were very highly appreciated. The customer gave some valuable remarks and requests for improving, which we immediately followed.

As a result, we developed technical solution albums for simulators and went all the way from their pilot operation to putting them into commercial use and receiving recommendations for their replication at the facilities of Russian Railways OJSC.

START OF REPLICATION IN RUSSIAN RAILWAYS OJSC (7 SIMULATOR PROJECTS)

In spring 2013, we fulfilled another request of the management of Russian Railways OJSC: provisions were made for remote failure input during simulator operation.

We developed a remote failure input package (RFIP). Note that radio channels were used to control failure input modules installed in the simulators. That was a unique, novel solution, which was very much appreciated by the staff of the Department of Automation and Telemechanics of Russian Railways OJSC. Besides, software for instructor’s place of work was developed, which provided a convenient and graphical interface for failure input from the computer and allowed for storing training data (record keeping).

Since we had fulfilled all requirements of the management of Russian Railways OJSC in a timely and high quality manner, hardware simulators developed by NovATrans R&D Center were included in their investment programs.

Completed projects: Volga Railway: SC-2 Verkhniy-Baskunchak, SC-10 Volgograd; Kaliningrad Railway, SC-1; Kuibyshev Railway, SC-1 Penza; Sverdlovsk Railway, SC-19 Demyanka; South Urals Railway, SC-5 Buzuluk. Izhevsk Railway Technical College.

 BREAKTHROUGH (9 SIMULATOR PROJECTS)

The year of 2014 saw an overall boom of the company performance: we produced more than twice as many simulators compared to the previous year and began developing principally new products – e-learning courses for remote training systems.

Completed projects: Trans-Baikal Railway, SC-2 Chita; Volga Railway: SC-10 Volgograd; Kuibyshev Railway, SC-8 Inza; Sverdlovsk Railway, SC-3 Kungur; South Urals Railway, SC-5 Buzuluk; Northern Railway, SC-4 Bui; North Caucasus Railway, SC-3 Bataisk. Izhevsk Railway Technical College.

 THE YEAR OF TECHNOLOGY AND THE FIRST PR (7 SIMULATOR PROJECTS)

At the beginning of the year, we issued the first corporate publication called ‘The Craft of S&I Professional’. This magazine was the first to be published among companies developing S&I devices and systems.

The magazine is published regularly once every two months. It presents new products and achievements of NovATrans R&D Center. The main purpose of the magazine is to promote knowledge.

Completed projects: Trans-Baikal Railway, SC-7 Skovorodino; Volga Railway: SC-1 Astrakhan, SC-8 Petrov-Val; Kuibyshev Railway, SC-13 Ufa; Sverdlovsk Railway: SC-3 Kungur; SC-18 Tobolsk; Moscow Railway, SC-28 Ryazan; South Urals Railway, SC-11 Shadrinsk; Northern Railway, SC-3 Vologda.

7 SIMULATOR PROJECTS

Completed projects: Trans-Baikal Railway, SC-6 Erofei-Pavlovich; South Urals Railway, SC-10 Berdyaush; Northern Railway: SC-9 Arkhangelsk, SC-10 Nyandoma; Krasnoyarsk Railway, SC-8 Askiz. Volgograd Railway Technical College; Simpheropol Railway and Industry College.

6 SIMULATOR PROJECTS

Completed projects: Trans-Baikal Railway, SC-10 Belogorsk; South Urals Railway, SC-13 Magnitogorsk; Northern Railway: SC-13 Solvychegodsk, SC-12 Kuloi; Volga Railway, SC-6 Saratov, Sverdlovsk Railway, SC-20 Surgut.

CONTINUAL GROWTH

The company expands actively its product portfolio based on customers’ demand, carries out market research, and involves experts and developers from various fields in order to cover the growing order book.