Russia: In recent decades, the country has consistently been automating train operation, infrastructure diagnostics and coordination of transportation processes. Now it is the turn of a marshalling complex, one of the most complicated parts of the railway network, to undergo digital transformation.
The Digital Railway Station (DRS) pilot project is implemented by Russian Railways (RZD) at the Chelyabinsk-Glavny marshalling yard. It aims not to introduce isolated robotic solutions and information systems but to change the control principles through the integration of diagnostics, planning and operational systems into a unified digital model. It is the world’s first marshalling yard digitalisation on this scale.
Transportation process enters the next stage of development
Railway transport digital transformation focuses mainly on the introduction of driverless technologies, intelligent infrastructure, rolling stock predictive diagnostics and automation of separate processes. Meanwhile, traffic growth makes one more efficiency potential visible, which is reducing times for marshalling operations alongside the improvement of technological control inside a railway station complex.
The speed of freight transportation depends not only on the duration of covering a section of the route. It takes considerable time for wagons to undergo sorting, technical and commercial inspection and shunting operations and wait for necessary technological procedures. That is why the increase in transportation efficiency is connected not only with the development of mainline infrastructure but also with the enhancement of railway station complexes.
Chelyabinsk-Glavny control centre. Source: RZD
Taking into account these considerations, RZD’s Digital Railway Station project is a logical step to integrate modern technologies within one of the most difficult parts of railway infrastructure, namely the marshalling yard. However, it involves more than just the introduction of advanced technologies. The heart of the project is the development of a system able to automatically record technical events by means of monitoring and diagnostic technologies. This approach will ensure the transition from the control based on post factum information from personnel to the management grounded on reliable, real-time data.
The Chelyabinsk-Glavny marshalling yard (South Ural Railway of RZD’s network) has been chosen as the project’s pilot site, where specialists are conducting the trial run of the model, which combines digital diagnostics, programme planning and robotic operational systems into one integrated technological environment. The developers say that the project is expected to become a basis for scaling up separate solutions of the integrated model or the DRS’s comprehensive sets of solutions within other large marshalling yards, with the aim to increase the transportation capacity of railway stations.
From automated operations to the integrated digital model
The DRS project stems from the limitations encountered by traditional systems used at marshalling yards. Despite a wide introduction of automated systems and specialised software packages, much of the information on technological processes continues coming in manually, entailing information delays about the completion of operations. That makes planning not so efficient, complicates supervising and limits possibilities for future automation of marshalling operations.
The new model fundamentally stands out with its autonomous and rapid communication, from informing about current technological events to providing necessary responses and reactions. This approach reflects a general change in the philosophy of marshalling yard control: while traditional automation mainly helps personnel to take decisions and perform separate operations, the DRS concept proposes a gradual transition to wider automation, leaving a human only supervising functions and key decision-making. That is why, from the very start, the project has been developed as a unified system, integrating separate technological chains at the marshalling yard into the end-to-end digital process based on real-time data.
Conceptual scheme of the pilot DRS arrangement. Source: NIIAS
The DRS concept dates back to 2018. In 2019, the DRS project office was opened, followed by the installation of digital rolling stock control systems at the Chelyabinsk-Glavny marshalling yard. In 2022, RZD’s research and technology institute NIIAS, Central Traffic Control Directorate and Technical Policy Department created the methodological framework for the project.
The development of the main infrastructure solutions and construction documentation on the key modules were completed in 2024. Since 2025, the project has been in trial operation, including the gradual introduction of rolling stock diagnostic technologies. In spring 2026, the overall DRS completion at Chelyabinsk-Glavny was estimated at 80%, with 17 technological innovations in regular service, another seven solutions under operational testing, 19 functioning software modules and 12 infrastructure facilities already built.
Architecture for the new model of marshalling yard control
The DRS concept is founded on two interrelated dimensions. The first is the informational-planning one, which calls for the organisation of the marshalling yard’s digital model and support of technological operations. The tasks include operational planning on a 24-hour shift basis, management of shunting operations, operational control, analysis of operational activities and coordination of cooperation between different railway transportation participants.
The other dimension deals with control and infrastructure, accounting for receiving accurate information on the actual processes and implementing technological operations using automated solutions. The infrastructure includes diagnostics suites, rolling stock monitoring systems, operational units and robotics.
Freight wagons passing through the stationary diagnostics gantries at Chelyabinsk-Glavny. Source: RZD
The two dimensions are linked by the system for the control and real-time data generation on relocations of wagons and locomotives at the yard. Initially, the system was a means of control over the rolling stock movements, but the project has significantly expanded its functions. In fact, the system has turned into a basement for the marshalling yard’s comprehensive information space, providing accumulation of actual data from different systems, the DRS actualisation and sharing of information between different DRS modules.
Chelyabinsk-Glavny as the DRS pilot site
The Chelyabinsk-Glavny marshalling yard has become the first site for the DRS key modules to undergo a comprehensive trial in a real transportation environment. Here, RZD is testing and honing the interoperability between the digital diagnostics, planning systems and operational units, which will be combined within the integrated model for the marshalling yard control.
Robots for automatically releasing wagon brakes. Source: RZD
One of the project’s most important components is automated rolling stock diagnostics. On the approach to the yard, the scanning gantries provide technical and commercial monitoring, able to identify nearly 70 technical and over 40 commercial parameters. Using lasers, cameras and computer vision, the gantries can automatically detect and record faults in the running gear and braking equipment. In 2025, the technology was enhanced with the introduction of the Element diagnostics subsystem. The new module allows for the inspection from the track level, identifying missing components and faults beneath the train.
Operation of robots for automatically releasing wagon brakes. Source: RZD
A similar approach concerns locomotives. A special diagnostics module undertakes control of the locomotives’ condition and records several dozens of parameters, monitoring the running gear, wheelsets, roof equipment and pantographs. The acquired data allows for determining what further maintenance the rolling stock needs.
Robotic system for wagon uncoupling at the marshalling hump. Source: RZD
The robotic wagon uncoupling system for humping operations is another remarkable DRS solution. The technology allows for performing one of the most dangerous tasks without humans entering a risk zone on the tracks. The uncoupling robot is synchronised with the process of the train splitting up, receiving data from the automated hump system and operating alongside all the systems installed at the yard. Currently, the robot is able to uncouple the wagons at a speed of 5 km/h. The plan is to increase it to 7–10 km/h.
Mobile robotic system for automatically releasing wagon brakes between the tracks. Source: RZD
One more direction in robotics is mobile robotic systems for automatically releasing the brakes on freight wagons. Several such crawler-mounted robots are now performing operations that have previously required the presence of workers just between tracks. An additional robotic module provides clearing the space between tracks, facilitating operation of the main modules. The solutions are aimed not only at shortening time for routine operations but also at enhancing track worker safety.
The Avtomashinist (Automatic Driver) system also plays an important role for the project. In combination with computer vision, it ensures automation of the core shunting operations, including a locomotive’s following the route, coupling and uncoupling of wagons and pushing wagons onto the hump. Within the DRS project, the Chelyabinsk-Glavny marshalling yard is expected to commission 11 new-generation shunting diesel locomotives TEM23 from TMH and 15 modernised TEM7A units from Sinara Transport Machines, all fitted with the Avtomashinist system. Meanwhile, the transition to full automation is not yet planned, and the driver will supervise the working process, ensuring the safety of operations.
TEM23 shunting diesel locomotive at Chelyabinsk-Glavny. Source: RZD
Alongside the DRS solutions in trial operation, the next-generation technologies are waiting to join the project. Namely, the biomorphic robots fitted with lidar sensors and depth-sensing cameras are currently undergoing testing in Rostov-on-Don. In the future, they also could serve for rolling stock diagnostics and monitoring of infrastructure. Yet, these robots have not been integrated into the DRS.
It is important that the above mentioned DRS technologies are not introduced as separate solutions. Their task is to contribute to the operation of the integrated system, which uses data received from diagnostic systems to plan further actions, while the robotic modules become the DRS’s operational level.
Scaling up of the pilot project
The DRS project’s final results are yet to be assessed upon the completion of trials and before the expansion of the approved solutions to other facilities within the Russian Railways network. Meanwhile, the developers and RZD’s officials have already highlighted the main outcomes of the project. First of all, the safety of work has increased with the reduction of manual operations in risk zones. In addition, the quality of control over the yard’s work has improved through the use of real-time accurate data and better coordination of the personnel involved in the process of transportation. Ultimately, the overall result is the marshalling yard’s productivity boost.
In May, at the meeting with Mikhail Mishustin, Russian Prime Minister, RZD’s CEO Oleg Belozerov indicated that the DRS’s solutions would increase the yard’s dispatching capacity by 10%, while the expected economic efficiency of one large marshalling yard could reach over RUB 1 bln ($12.4 mln). In 2025, Alexander Dolgiy, CEO of NIIAS, stated that the total annual cost savings from the DRS solutions, integrated into the main yards of the network, are preliminarily estimated at RUB 100 bln ($1.2 bln).
Diagnostics of wagons at Chelyabinsk-Glavny at night. Source: RZD
For the first stage of scale-up through 2030, the Kinel, Inskaya, Vkhodnaya and Maxim Gorky stations were initially chosen. In 2025, at the meeting of the RZD Scientific and Technical Council, the list of the first-stage stations was enlarged with Dema, Yekaterinburg-Sortirovochny, Moskovka and Taishet. Another 20 marshalling yards were likewise determined for the next stage of scaling up. It is worth mentioning that the project’s modular architecture allows for customisation of the DRS scenario taking into account the peculiarities and technological tasks of a specific station.
In general, the significance of the DRS is able to surpass just the modernisation of particular railway stations. If the expected results are justified, the project could become the ground for the model of marshalling yard control, based on accurate data, digital twins and fully automated technological processes under human supervision.
