With his scowl, stocky build and ginger crewcut, the passenger looked like trouble the moment he swaggered down the platform.
But this time he was not real. Bosses at Arriva Trains Wales are using a 3D simulator to teach staff how to deal with difficult, angry or reckless passengers.
Lessons in “conflict management” and keeping commuters safe on platforms are necessary as passenger numbers on Britain’s packed railways continue to rise.
Screens on three walls of a “projection room” in Cardiff display a fictional station named Pillar Parkway (or Parolffordd Pilar in Welsh).
Its platforms are busy with passenger “avatars”. These include people teetering on the platform edge or sprinting for trains just as the doors close, and teenagers whose attention is distracted by their phones.
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Arriva has been awarded £400,000 by the Rail Safety and Standards Board to develop further training scenarios, such as dealing with crowds and drunks.
Last month, staff who were due to be on duty in Cardiff for last night’s Champions League football final were trained using the simulator.
Suzanne Murray, 46, a customer service manager at Network Rail, said the most delicate situation she had faced was two rugby fans having sex in a waiting room after a Wales versus England fixture in February.
It was not among the scenes used in the simulator.