CAF, in collaboration with the Dutch railway operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), has completed two innovation projects focused on the implementation of Automatic Train Operation (ATO) in the Netherlands. Tests have been carried out to evaluate energy efficiency, punctuality and capacity of the technology developed by the company.
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(12/12/2024)
The first line of action was ‘ATO Endurance’ and consisted of carrying out tests of the ATO system at GoA2 level operating on the entire Dutch railway network, which is 20,0000 kilometres long, regardless of the ATP system present, whether it is ETCS, the Class B national ATB system or a combination of both. The objective was to evaluate improvements in energy efficiency, punctuality and capacity.
The second line of research, ‘ATO Automatic Shunting’, focused on remote and automated shunting operations executed in a real depot environment, including the route between the depot and the first/last station, even with mixed traffic. The tests included manoeuvres in remote mode, both manual and automatic (GoA2), and fully autonomous operations (GoA4, driverless).
This second demonstration of the technology developed in the project took place between the De Vork depot and the main station in Groningen, in the Netherlands. During this exhibition, two runs in remote driving (GoA1) with remote-controlled coupling and uncoupling were completed, as well as one run at GoA4 level. The latter included various tasks such as activating cabs, coupling and uncoupling with other trains, driving while respecting lateral signalling and detecting obstacles, including track buffers stops, trains and dummies that were set up for the test.
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