Sirisha Bai Govardhan Rao, Industrial Doctoral Student

E-mail:
sirisha.bai.govardhan.rao@mdu.se
Division:
Division of Computer Science and Software Engineering
Research group:
Dependable Software Engineering


I am an Industrial PhD student conducting research in functional safety within the railway industry, alongside my professional role as a Safety Engineer at Alstom. My work bridges academic research and industrial practice, with the goal of strengthening safety assurance in complex railway systems.

I have completed my Licentiate degree and am currently progressing toward my PhD, with research primarily focused on Common Cause Failures (CCF) in railway systems. My research aims to improve the understanding, identification, and mitigation of CCFs to enhance system reliability and safety integrity.

My professional and academic interests include hazard analysis, common cause failure analysis, safety case development, and the application of functional safety standards, particularly IEC 61508 and European railway safety standards (such as EN 50126/8/9). I am especially motivated by applying rigorous safety methodologies to real-world railway projects, ensuring compliance while supporting innovation and system complexity.

I am passionate about contributing to safer, more dependable railway systems through a combination of research-driven insights and practical engineering experience.

The present research at Alstom focuses on analyzing the common cause failures (CCFs) of High-integrity Electro-dynamic braking of railway propulsion systems to re-evaluate the assumptions made in the industry. The aim is to study the CCF methodology adopted in the industry and investigate ways to reduce the probability of CCFs by examining the software/hardware dependency factors of control systems, which consecutively benefit the industry by reducing the safety requirements and associated costs.