Industrial Automation Magazine India

World-first Automatic Train Operation for regional passenger trains in Germany

Published on : Monday 01-06-2020

Alstom lauded by German Federal Ministry of Economics for start of automatic regional rail project.

May 2020 – The German Federal Ministry of Economics has presented Alstom with the “Innovation Prize for Regulatory Sandboxes”, related to a planned test project to implement Automatic Train Operation (ATO) in daily passenger operation of regional trains. The project will begin in 2021 together with the Regional Association of the greater area of Braunschweig, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin). After evaluation of the selected tracks and the equipment necessary for automated operation, the testing will be carried out with Metronom Eisenbahngesellschaft, a rail operator in Lower Saxony, and two Coradia Continental regional trains owned by the Regionalbahnfahrzeuge Großraum Braunschweig GmbH. Alstom has long been a world-leader in ATO for metro systems, but this test will be a world-first for regional passenger trains.

“In the future, automated trains will optimise regional rail operations, reduce energy consumption, and increase ride comfort. In this way, highly automated driving will make a decisive contribution to climate protection and contribute to the development of a modern, attractive railway system. Following the development and successful testing of the world’s first hydrogen train Coradia iLint, Alstom is once again the innovative driver in rail transport with the pilot for regional trains in automated operation,” says Jörg Nikutta, Managing Director of Alstom in Germany and Austria

For this project, two trains based on Alstom’s successful Coradia Continental platform will be equipped with a European Train Control System (ETCS) and additional Automatic Train Operation (ATO) equipment. The equipment will enable the trains to operate automatically, testing different grades of automation (GoA): GoA3 in regular passenger operation and GoA4 during shunting. GoA3 describes a fully autonomous train journey, but with an attendant who can intervene in the operation in case of emergency. GoA4 denotes unattended operation with no staff aboard, but with the possibility of remote control.