photo: Luxembourg Railways/Luxembourg Railways
Luxembourg Railways (CFL) has selected Alstom as its on-board supplier for the ATO for regional trains, which will run on top of the European train management system ETCS.
Alstom is equipping a fleet of 34 new double-decker trains from the Coradia family, which were signed in 2018, with an ATO system with GoA2 automation level. These trains are designed to operate in Luxembourg, as well as in neighboring countries - Belgium and France. They will be equipped with ATO equipment at the Alstom plant in Charleroi, Belgium, which is a competent center for railway automation.
Automatic Train Operation is an interoperable system, covering all grades of automation.
The purpose of this activity is to contribute to the development of European ATO over ETCS specifications. The intention is to have ETCS as the Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, which supervises the train movement from a safety point of view. The ATO onboard is able to drive the train automatically, based on timetable information from the trackside. It will attempt to meet the timetable and, where possible, do this in an energy efficient way. The ATO on-board has an interface with the ETCS on-board. The ATO specifications are first developed in Shift2Rail, in which EUG participates. These specifications will progressively cover the following Grades of Automation (GoA):
GoA2 - automatic driving while driver is still present in the cab, to take back control of the train when needed. GoA3 - automatic driving without driver, but other staff present in the train, to take back control of the train when needed. GoA4 - automatic driving without any staff in the train.
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