Paris (AFP)
The SNCF said Wednesday have circulated a remote train in the Paris region, a "major step" according to her in the development of autonomous trains.
This "drone train", consisting of a Corail car transformed into a laboratory and a flat car surrounded by two locomotives of maneuvers, circulated in April on 4 km between Villeneuve-Saint-Georges (Val-de-Marne) and Juvisy (Essonne ). It was ordered from a control station located in Vigneux-sur-Seine (Essonne), a few kilometers away.
"This successful experiment has demonstrated the technical feasibility of telecontrol on rail," welcomed the SNCF in a statement.
During the test, cameras installed on the locomotive allowed the remote driver to remotely control the braking and acceleration commands. The data was transmitted via satellite and an LTE private cellular network equivalent to 4G, she said.
The train remote control must in particular make it possible to take control of a future remote autonomous train in the event of a degraded situation, to facilitate maneuvers and to provide fine services for freight trains.
"This is a great first for the rail system and this successful experiment is a fundamental step in the realization of the train of tomorrow," said Luc Laroche, SNCF Project Director.
Totally automated freight train and TER prototypes should be functional, with no driver on board, in 2023, before deployment starting in 2025.
If it does not plan to drive commercial passenger trains without drivers, SNCF sees "concrete benefits" for the automation of trains: a better regularity with "harmonized traffic and optimized speed" allowing to run more convoys and "better cope with the unexpected", as well as a decrease in energy consumption.
The experiment was conducted by SNCF in collaboration with Railenium, a railway technology research institute based in Valenciennes (Nord), the Actia electronic systems manufacturer and the National Center for Space Studies (Cnes) and the group technological Thales.
? 2019 AFP