Introduction

From May to September, I worked as an ITV Specialist Intern at Hitachi Rail's Scarborough location in a hybrid work environment. Hitachi Rail is a company that develops technology and systems for the railway industry, including railway signaling systems. I started my term on the SWAT team, where I learned about rail signaling through manual testing on a train simulator. After about two weeks, I moved to the ATE team, where I spent the rest of my term. My work with ATE focused mainly on creating Global Data Sets and supporting the automated testing of the 4LM project in the United Kingdom, which is part of the London Underground.

Hitachi Rail's Scarborough office works on a variety of railway projects, including signaling systems. As part of the ATE team, I worked on the testing side of these systems, with most of my work connected to the 4LM project. This gave me the opportunity to work with a real railway signaling system and see how the software and testing tools I was developing fit into a much larger system.

My Role & Responsibilities

My main responsibility was creating Python scripts for Global Data Sets and updating the Perl scripts that used them. Each task started with a discussion with my team about what was needed and how the data set should work. From there, I would develop and test the Python script before reviewing the results with my team. Most data sets took one or two days to complete, so I was able to work through a number of different tasks during the term. Alongside this work, I attended regular stand-up meetings and helped with smaller issues when they came up.

Skills & Learning

Working on these tasks also meant learning a number of new tools and technologies along the way. Python was the main language I used, mostly for data processing, file manipulation, creating Perl '.pm' files, and working with proprietary functions. I also gained some experience with Pandas. I had never used Perl before this work term, so I had to learn it while working with existing scripts and functions written by other developers. This included learning Perl's referencing system and understanding how the existing code worked. I also got to work with a proprietary testing framework that simulated train guideway systems, including being able to create and move trains. Seeing a simulated railway system actually respond to the things I was working on was one of the more interesting parts of the job.

As I became more familiar with these systems, I also became more comfortable solving problems that did not have an obvious answer. The information I needed for a Global Data Set was often spread across multiple systems, so I had to figure out how those pieces fit together before I could write the code. When something did not work, I would go through the code step by step and check each stage until I found where the result was different from what I expected. This gave me a lot of practice with figuring things out on my own rather than always having a clear solution from the beginning.

This experience also showed me how different working on a real project can be from working on school assignments. Most of my university programming projects have been fairly independent, but at Hitachi Rail, communication was part of almost every task. I regularly discussed requirements with my team, reviewed my work with them, and sometimes had to coordinate with other teams to find information I needed. My courses gave me the programming and problem-solving skills to get started, but working in industry taught me how to apply those skills to an existing codebase and a system I knew very little about when I started.

Reflection

Looking back on the term, I think one of the biggest things I learned was how much I can accomplish when I am given a problem without an obvious solution. I enjoyed figuring out how different pieces of a system fit together and finding ways to make repetitive or difficult processes easier through software. This experience also gave me a better understanding of what working as a software developer in an industry setting looks like, from working with existing codebases to testing and collaborating with a larger technical team. Overall, my time at Hitachi Rail gave me a lot of practical experience that I can carry forward into future software and technical roles.

Work Term Gallery

Here are some pictures from my time at Hitachi Rail, including my workplace, team, and more!

My Workplace

This is where I spent most of my time during my co-op term, working on various tasks and projects.

My Team

A picture of some of the people on the ATE team.

A Little break

coop.html Sometimes it's nice to take a little break and enjoy a Hot Chocolate while working.

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