Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Maxim Akimov and the Chairman of Russian 
Railways (RZD) Oleg Belozyorov took a test trip on Russia's first unmanned 
electric train Lastochka on the experimental railway ring in Shcherbinka during 
the International Railway Salon PRO//Motion.EXPO on August 28th.

"What we saw is a major technological breakthrough, because it was made by our 
engineers, in our technical centers together with different partners who worked 
on it with Russian Railways." Akimov said.

"It is a historic day for Russian Railways. We are very close to perfecting 
unmanned technology. I want to say thanks to all of our developers: we use only 
Russian systems. Moreover, I can say that we are one year ahead of our foreign 
colleagues. Russian Railways is committed to unmanned driving technology, 
primarily because it will increase safety and reliability in transportation, 
especially for passengers," said Belozyorov.

Belozyorov noted that train drivers should not worry about being made redundant:

"Their responsibilities will change, but people will still monitor the systems. 
We will all change together."
So that it could travel in the automatic mode, special equipment was added to 
the Lastochka that made it possible to position it on the infrastructure, 
communicate with the dispatch center, and detect obstacles. The train is able 
to follow its schedule in unmanned mode and, when it detects an obstacle, it 
automatically brakes.

The ES2G Lastochka is an unmanned electric train that can be controlled 
automatically, from the cockpit by a driver, or from the transportation control 
center by an operator. The control center is designed to operate unmanned 
trains and make decisions during emergencies. For example, if necessary, the 
operator can take the train out of automatic control and remotely control its 
movement.

Russian Railways is developing unmanned train systems at various infrastructure 
facilities. For this, the rolling stock, infrastructure of stations, and 
technological facilities are gradually being equipped with special equipment 
for remote monitoring and traffic control. In the coming year, a series of 
tests in automatic mode under the control of drivers will be carried out.

In the future, unmanned technologies, if the appropriate laws will be passed, 
may be introduced on railway lines with a large volume of traffic and a small 
transit interval between passenger trains (for example, the Moscow Central 
Circle), as well as at freight stations (shunting locomotives).


Source: JSC Russian Railways (RZD)