Luxembourg’s National Railways (CFL) has chosen Alstom to equip its 34 new Coradia regional trains with an automatic train operation (ATO) system.
The high-capacity double-deck trains, ordered in December 2018, will gradually enter commercial service on Luxembourg’s national network, as well as in Belgium and France, at the end of this year.
This will be the first time in Europe that a regional train fleet is equipped with ATO at Grade of Automation level 2 (GoA2) in combination with ETCS.
GoA2 involves fully automated starting, driving and stopping, with a driver who can intervene in the event of an emergency, and increases the capacity of the network by reducing intervals between trains and saves energy by regulating traction and braking forces.
The equipment will be installed at Alstom’s Signalling Centre of Excellence in Charleroi, Belgium.
“In the future, automated trains will optimise regional rail operations, reduce energy consumption and increase passenger comfort. Automatic operation will make a decisive contribution to the development of a modern, attractive railway network. We are proud to work with CFL to offer this European first.”
Alstom has a strong track record in fully automated, driverless metro operation and is leading the European ATO project as part of Shift2Rail, the joint undertaking supported by the European Commission.
It is also in charge of GoA3 tests on regional passenger trains in Germany and GoA4 tests on shunting locomotives in the Netherlands.
