Automation is already present in many areas of the railway sector (e.g. computer-aided dispatching or electronic interlockings). In order to achieve climate goals and offer an attractive transport service, it is essential to advance automation and higher grades of automation (GoA). The four levels of automation range from supporting systems (GoA1) to automotive trains (GoA4). This paper summarises a study which outlines the impacts, requirements and potentials of higher GoA within different segments: passenger transport, freight and mixed traffic on mainlines and branch lines. The findings show that energy-efficiency and capacity can already be increased with the first two GoA for both, passenger and mixed traffic. Enhancements have an influence on costs, not to mention the customer satisfaction. The potential in freight transport, e.g. in shunting, can be exploited with intelligent freight trains (GoA4). This leads to improved safety and reduced costs. Within this study a tool to calculate energy consumption is established. It enables the depiction of various scenarios for different trains and driving behaviours. The simulation tool is validated by real measured data. The outcome of the calculation tool underpins the benefits of driver advisory systems (DAS) and automatic train operation (ATO). It can be stated that higher automation, especially on a dispositive level is essential if energy and capacity improvement are to be achieved, regardless of the type of network (electrified or non-electrified). However, operational optimisation has its limits. For non-electrified lines, alternative drives offer the opportunity to further mitigate environmental impacts.Automation is already present in many areas of the railway sector (e.g. computer-aided dispatching or electronic interlockings). In order to achieve climate goals and offer an attractive transport service, it is essential to advance automation and higher grades of automation (GoA). The four levels of automation range from supporting systems (GoA1) to automotive trains (GoA4). This paper summarises a study which outlines the impacts, requirements and potentials of higher GoA within different segments: passenger transport, freight and mixed traffic on mainlines and branch lines. The findings show that energy-efficiency and capacity can already be increased with the first two GoA for both, passenger and mixed traffic. Enhancements have an influence on costs, not to mention the customer satisfaction. The potential in freight transport, e.g. in shunting, can be exploited with intelligent freight trains (GoA4). This leads to improved safety and reduced costs. Within this study a tool to calculate energy consumption is established. It enables the depiction of various scenarios for different trains and driving behaviours. The simulation tool is validated by real measured data. The outcome of the calculation tool underpins the benefits of driver advisory systems (DAS) and automatic train operation (ATO). It can be stated that higher automation, especially on a dispositive level is essential if energy and capacity improvement are to be achieved, regardless of the type of network (electrified or non-electrified). However, operational optimisation has its limits. For non-electrified lines, alternative drives offer the opportunity to further mitigate environmental impacts.

Automation; Energy-efficiency; Railway-Operation