Australia - 30,000 tonne driverless trains!

[John Ashworth]

From Railway Magazine, March 2009, p93:

Automatic 30,000 tonne freight trains!

Australia will soon have the world's first long-distance coal trains to be hauled by automatically-driven diesel locomotives.

The 2.4 km-long coal trains, each weighing about 30,000 tonnes, will see driverless operation from 2012 on Rio Tinto's Hamersley and Robe River heavy haul line, in Western Australia's Pilbara region.

Ansaldo STS will supply and implement the technology. This covers upgrades to the wayside signalling and asset protection equipment, the design and installation of a wide-area data communications network, developing interface software for locomotive control systems, installing upgraded onboard equipment, and modifying the existing control centre.

[Rob Stanier]

I believe that Rio Tinto has shelved this project for the time being, due to the current financial crisis. Will try and find out more.

Cheers
Rob

[John Ashworth]

Thanks, Rob. This is from the hard copy Railway Magazine, which goes to print a couple of months before the issue date, and then takes many weeks to reach me, so it could well be out of date by now. It's an awesome prospect, though, if it ever does take off.

[Derek Walker]

Thinking about this concept made me wonder, there always seems to be a need for a driver to do the "seat of the pants" stuff. Wouldnt remote driving be an option? kind of like a train sim, only the train is real? Dr Robert Ballard called it "Teleprescence" and I bet there are a number of microsoft train simulator players that would be able to handle the real thing from a remote site via satelite and onboard sensors and TV. I am not too sure that eliminating a driver is a good idea, It comes down to the human element experiencing a certain condition and taking appropraite action whereas a computer would take the action dictated by its programming.
Theoretically aircraft can fly themselves already, but we still have a pilot on board "just in case".

[Rob Stanier]

This article appeared on Lloyd's List Daily Commercial News Newswire Service- Australia, back in January.

Rio puts driverless trains plan on ice

by Rob McKay | 10:46AM, 14 Jan 2009

The world economic slowdown, especially the effects being felt in China, has forced Rio Tinto Iron Ore (RTIO) to postponed work on its Western Australian iron ore Automated Train Operations (ATO) program.

Approved last July, the $557m ATO project was designed to bring greater efficiency to RTIO's rail operations by 2012 as its Pilbara infrastructure rapidly expands beyond the current 220m-tonne annual capacity.

"Substantial progress has been made towards implementation, with the trials proving successful and the program's momentum can be easily renewed when circumstances permit," RTIO chief executive Sam Walsh said yesterday.

"Rio Tinto maintains its commitment to applying technology and innovation to improve efficiency and create shareholder value.

"Postponing the ATO program will help refocus resources to assist the advancement of automated truck haulage and drill and blast operations, remote mine operation and other key aspects of Rio Tinto's vision for the future."

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported General Administration of Customs figures as showing that that China recorded a 6.2% rise in iron ore imports last month compared with November, up nearly 1% compared with the previous December.

[Rob Stanier]

Also this article appeared on the WAtoday website on 13/1/09.

Full article can be found here:
http://business.watoday.com.au/business ... -7g4s.html

Extract from the article concerning driverless trains, quoted below:

Rio is to save $US229 million ($A340 million) by suspending an underground development at its Northparkes copper/gold operation in NSW, as well as $US371 million by postponing its push to have driverless trains in its Pilbara iron ore operations.

[Marc Russell]

With metro systems across the globe employing driverless trains, including one that is in the pipeline for Sydney. To have a freight train in a isolated area that runs from mine to port with very minimal contact with human life to become driverless seems like a sensible cost cutting measure.

[John Ashworth]

The Docklands Light Railway, part of the London system, is completely driverless.

On the Victoria Line (and perhaps others now too), there is a driver but her/his sole role under normal circumstances is to press the "close doors" button, after which the train drives itself automatically to the next station where the driver then presses the "open doors" button. S/he can override the automatic controls and drive the train manually when necessary.