Innovation in the fundamentals of rail

John Gardiner, writing elsewhere in this issue, notes a number of key improvements in technology that continue to make rail competitive. Not far from home, there are other major technological changes that could also improve the service offered by rail.

Automation

One of these is train automation. Around the world there are a number of driverless, automatic metro systems. But these are closed systems without externally generated obstacles, and the challenge is to automate a more open system, including freight trains. Already in Western Australia Rio Tinto has driverless automatic trains delivering iron ore from mine to port – in 28,000 tonne, 240-wagon trains. The Australian outback has some advantages for such operations, with exceedingly sparse population, and few obstacles in front of the automated trains.

New Zealand routes, with multiple level crossings and other interaction with people make it unlikely that fully autonomous freight trains would be permitted here, but there will always be spin off lessons that we can apply. These trains are controlled by systems very close to the ECTS that Gardiner notes, and ECTS level 2 has elements of automation built in, though the driver remains – e.g. making sure the train stops where it should, avoiding collisions with other trains, and keeping speed within appropriate limits

Autonomous wagons

Gardiner mentioned the need for longer and heavier trains to improve productivity. With such trains, the driver and the locomotive are made more productive by hauling more freight with the same resources. But entrepreneurs with Parallel Systems in the US suggest doing away with both will also improve productivity, and service levels. Longer trains can equate to fewer trains, with potentially poorer service to individual customers.

So Parallel Systems have developed an independently powered single wagon that is autonomous – it can move along the track and through the system under battery power without a driver. Braking (electronically controlled hydraulic brakes – and regenerative – rather than pneumatic) is quicker than in a conventional train, as it is applied to every wagon at the same time. The wagon’s control systems are compatible with the Positive Train Control system, a US equivalent of ETCS.

Parallel System’s mission is to deliver a safer, more efficient and sustainable alternative to short-haul trucking. The company notes its autonomous wagon system delivers significant benefits, including:

• enables railways to grow by increasing their role in shorter-route transport
• makes America’s busiest roadways safer for motorists by decongesting;
• reduces the costs of moving freight;
• creates high-skilled, high-wage jobs;
• reduces pollution.

According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), congestion means longer travel times, increased costs, and less reliable pick-up and delivery times for truck operators. To compensate, truckers typically add vehicles and drivers and extend their hours of operation. Over time, most of these costs are passed along to shippers and consumers. The FHWA estimates that increases in travel time costs shippers and carriers an additional $25 to $200 per hour depending on the product carried. The cost of unexpected truck delays can add another 50 percent to 250 percent.

Parallel Systems exists to enable the railway industry to address this societal issue. The company’s innovation allows railways to offer faster, more regular, and cost competitive service by eliminating the need for large batch sizes in rail services today.

A single wagon can be despatched from a customer to its destination without waiting for enough wagons to make up a train. But they call also move together in a “platoon” of 10 to 30 wagons, without coupling them. So far, the porotypes have worked and have got safety clearance from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) for the first commercial pilot on the man line, on 260 km of two lines in Georgia, in conjunction with the Genesee and Wyoming (G & W) railway company. The lines connect the Port of Savannah to major arterial distribution operations serving the East Coast. “Georgia stands to realise significant benefits from decongestion of local highways and increased freight transportation availability for communities in southern Georgia”, said Parallel’s CEO and founder Mat Soule.

Initially the trials will focus on a 5 km section without any level crossings, and will gradually extend over 7 steps to longer routes and more diverse situations, including at the end of the programme, concurrent operations with conventional trains. Later stages include level crossings, and all level crossings must be protected by flagmen during the trials.

The FRA approval suspended a number of its regulations for the trials. As they say in their approval letter: “Many of the suspensions are necessary because the newly designed equipment does not have certain conventional mechanical elements to which the regulations apply. For example, the vehicle does not have a cab and does not couple to other equipment. Similarly, there is no need for handholds, ladders or other safety appliances”. This underlines how radical the system is. It is however required to have a horn and front and rear indicator lights for each direction of travel.

Meanwhile the idea has taken hold in Western Australia, where the state track owning company, ARC Infrastructure, has formed a company named Hiivr, and acquired a Parallel wagon (for 1435mm gauge). This has been run on the main line for testing in October 2024, at speeds of up to 30 km/h. It is being integrated with the ARC train control system, and accreditation with the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator is being sought.  ARC has ownership links with G & W.

Use of the autonomous wagon system was designed with the new container port at Kwinana south of Perth in mind. The sorts of duties envisaged for it include movement of containers from the port to adjacent intermodal freight terminals, a potential use for them in New Zealand too, though there would need to be work to adapt them to our narrower gauge.