Germany: On Monday, Salzgitter witnessed a two-car train travelling several kilometres in autonomous mode and its operation under remote control.
The project involved two Alstom Coradia LINT DMUs provided by the Local Transport Authority of Lower Saxony LNVG. The automated operation of the trains uses cameras, lidars and obstacle detection as well as ETCS traffic control systems. It is claimed that the chosen approach eliminates the need for additional trackside equipment and that the driver-operators will be able to activate remote control at any time.
Alstom is developing the ARTE (Autonomous Regional Train Evolution) project in partnership with the German Aerospace Centre DLR and the technical university TU Berlin with the state support from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and Lower Saxony’s Ministry of Economics, Transport, Building and Digitalisation.
Testing of the unmanned Alstom Coradia LINT DMU. Source: Alstom
Earlier, the railcar builder reported successful trials of unmanned mainline and shunting rolling stock and plans to begin expanding the integration of unmanned technology into railway transport from 2025.
Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter!
