If your drivers keep going on strike, what do you do?
“SNCF targets autonomous trains in five years”
An autonomous locomotive in northern France is controlled by a “téléconducteur” at the control centre in Lyon. Strike-hit French Railways is rapidly developing “drone trains”, with the aim of running fully-automatic services within five years – and “semi-autonomous” trains by 2020.
According to Railway Gazette, the president of the national rail operator, SNCF, wants train drivers to become more like pilots, monitoring the journey while technology optimises performance.
Perhaps there are some ideas for the UK here (no railway companies mentioned….)
Read it here and here.
esngblog 
They have this already on the Shinkansen in Japan. Difference is that the Shinkansen is a glorified metro system with completely segregated track and no freight/local trains or level crossings, et c.
What happens when TGV enters Germany/Belgium and has to run alongside German trains:They’ll still have to drive there unless they can get the German companies to adopt the same system (think about the signalling system issues of recent decades).
And then if they have ‘train pilots’, the pilots could go on strike.
I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it sounds a bit more like an attention grabbing headline to put pressure on the unions to me.
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