Introducing a Testing Automation Framework for Basic Integrity of Java Applications in Hitachi Railway Systems

In the railway industry, where safety, reliability, and performance are critical, test automation is essential to ensure Verification and Validation (V&V) of software and its quality, especially for Java applications. In order to reduce validation time and minimize human error, automatic tests represent a powerful tool: they can make the validation process more efficient and systematic. Building an automated testing framework provides continuity and responsiveness, enabling both early issue detection and overall system performance optimization. These concepts are crucial in a constantly evolving environment that must comply with strict standards and several customer requirements. This paper outlines the automated testing framework developed for Java-based applications in Hitachi Rail, specifically targeting railway central control systems. The framework must support SW and V&V lifecycles and is made of three main stages: API Test Automation using Postman used to ensure proper API behavior under expected conditions and against the given requirements, development of test suites with JUnit to validate the reliability and accuracy of individual modules and their interactions, and system tests through stress and fault injection scenarios. The structured approach enables efficient testing by significantly increasing the number of tests completed in a shorter time, focusing on robustness and reliability, which are paramount in railway central control systems.