EU: So says Railtarget, citing the report, received from the partnership of major operators and rolling stock manufacturers, Europe’s Rail.
The report states that the trial operation will last three years, taking place on 36 routes in 15 EU countries.
The DAC introduction is a timely measure since currently, the majority of freight cars in the EU countries are still coupled manually with a mechanical screw coupling. The new coupling is expected to be installed on 95 locomotives and 1,600 cars of different types and years of production. 48 European organisations, including freight operators, manufacturers, leasing companies, and testing centres, are said to be ready to participate in the project.
All DAC functions such as systems of data transfer, train composition and length, automatic brake test, remote software upgrade, and others will reportedly be tested under real operational conditions. The DAC functionality over long periods of non-operation and resistance to vandalism may also undergo testing, with an additional cost-benefit assessment and detection of possible technical problems.
The full-scale DAC introduction in Europe is planned to start from 2028. Different technical solutions from several companies have been tested in 2020–2024. The competitive selection resulted in Voith’s solution being chosen as the standard for DAC. Some European operators voice criticism for the lack of elaborate introduction phases and the expected high implementation costs.
