AutomatedTrain: Digitale Schiene Deutschland develops and tests automated preparation and shutdown of trains

Berlin, July 2024 – Fully automated, driverless driving is a key factor in bringing more traffic onto the railways and counteracting the staff shortage. To achieve this, new, digital technologies must be introduced into the rail system. The "AutomatedTrain" research and development project focuses, among other things, on the automated preparation and shutdown of trains. Digitale Schiene Deutschland accompanied two train drivers as they carried out their preparatory shutdown of the train. In the video, they explain which work steps are still carried out manually today and could be eliminated in the future.

The term "preparation and shutdown" is used to describe the activities that have to be carried out to get traction units ready to start before the train drive and to park them safely again after. Automating these activities saves a considerable amount of time. Preparatory tasks, such as checking that all switches in the driver's cab are in the correct position, are no longer necessary. If the train can then also set off fully automatically – a second focus of the project – the train drivers will only need to board the train at the departure station in future. "In this way, we ensure greater independence of vehicle deployment from personnel. This will make us more flexible in the use of our vehicles and enable us to expand our range of services for our customers," says Dr. Christian Hauswald, Technical Project Manager AutomatedTrain at Digitale Schiene Deutschland.

Digitale Schiene Deutschland is working with ten different project partners to achieve this goal. In the research and development project, which started in mid-2023, two trains will be converted. The principle behind it is simple: "The train is no longer picked up by a train driver, but receives a drive command remotely from a control room, gets ready independently and then drives to the departure station on its own," explains Eva Windecker, AutomatedTrain project manager at Siemens Mobility.

Take a look and find out more about the automatic loading and unloading of trains.