China has successfully tested a new driverless freight train

Unmanned trains are not a new thing in Chinese urban rail, but in rail freight they are a novelty. China wants to use the new technology to boost logistics efficiency, and the country has now successfully tested a driverless coal train on an approximately 150 kilometre stretch of railways.

The test train transported 108 wagons with coal. It had a total length of 1,300 metres and weighed 10,800 tonnes, according to Chinese media. The implementation of the unmanned train technology is supposed to boost the average speed of trains by 1,7 kilometres per hour and reduce energy consumption for traction by 2,9 per cent.

A research team created China’s first “smart heavy-haul railway transportation paradigm”, which works with a centralised station control system and an intelligent driving system, Chinese media write. Safety monitoring supposedly takes place not only from the ground, but also from the air and space.