NETHERLANDS: A one-year trial of automatic train operation has begun on the Betuwe Route as part of a project to develop production-ready equipment for automating main line freight operations. This is intended to support of ambitions for modal shift from road to rail.
The project is being undertaken by DB Cargo in partnership with Germany’s DLR aerospace research centre, Hitachi Rail and Remoot, backed with €18·9m from the German Federal Ministry for Transport’s Future Rail Freight innovation programme.
Dutch infrastructure manager ProRail said the Betuwe Route was selected as a controlled testing environment because it is a freight-only line equipped with ERTMS and without any level crossings.
ATO technology
The tests will use two Siemens Mobility Vectron electric locomotives modified for automatic and remotely controlled train operation at the Köln-Gremberg workshop, and wagons which are weighted but not carrying commercial cargo.
The Hitachi Rail onboard ATO system uses a digital route map to accelerate, brake and stop the train automatically, keeping to the schedule and stopping in the correct place without the driver having to take manual action.
The trains will operate in two grades of automation: GoA2 with a driver in the cab to supervise operations and GoA4 with remote supervision, although there will always be a test team in the cab during the trials.
Following the test phase, an extensive evaluation will be undertaken to inform the standardisation and certification of ATO technology with a view to wider roll-out within Europe, including the Rhine-Alpine Corridor between the North Sea ports and northern Italy.
Preparing the railway for the future
ProRail said the full rollout of GoA4 automation could provide 20% to 30% additional capacity on certain corridors, cut energy consumption by 10% to 15% and reduce operational costs by 20%, with more consistent driving and less unplanned downtime.
‘Thanks to innovative technologies, we are making rail safer, more efficient and more sustainable’, Dutch Minister for the Environment & Public Transport Thierry Aartsen said when the trials were officially launched at the Kijfhoek yard on October 24. ‘With this pilot, we show that autonomous driving with freight trains is not a matter of tomorrow, but is already becoming a reality today. This is how we prepare the railway for the future.’
