Will freight trains become automated?

This is not to say that autonomy in North American freight rail will never happen. The building blocks of autonomy start with PTC, or as reported by Railway Age, PTC 2.0. Roughly a year ago (February 2021), BNSF received a patent for a virtual track block system that would effectively create moving-block train control.



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The goal is to have fully automated freight and regional passenger prototypes ready by 2023 and begin scale-up in 2025.

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While full driverless autonomy is certainly technically possible, and is applied on various routes worldwide, it still accounts for only a tiny percentage of trains running today. New trains are still being designed and built with fully equipped driver cabins.

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While full driverless autonomy is certainly technically possible, and is applied on various routes worldwide, it still accounts for only a tiny percentage of trains running today. New trains are still being designed and built with fully equipped driver cabins.

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Are trains becoming obsolete? No. Trains continue to be the cheapest form of long distance land transportation for freight there is. Ships and barges can carry more cargo for less, but they cannot transit the large land masses and certainly not as fast.

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The Association of American Railroads claims 220000 km. Capital costs for electrifying something that large would be just a bit high, and with continuing subsidies for oil the cost savings simply aren't there. Additionally, the vast majority of the US rail network is privately owned and operated by dozens of railroads.

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Trains have the right-of-way because they cannot quickly stop for a motorist at crossings or for trespassers on the tracks. The average freight train, traveling at 55 MPH, takes anywhere from 1 to 1½ miles to stop. Traveling at the same speed, the average automobile can stop in only 200 feet.

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While the US was a passenger train pioneer in the 19th century, after WWII, railways began to decline. The auto industry was booming, and Americans bought cars and houses in suburbs without rail connections. Highways (as well as aviation) became the focus of infrastructure spending, at the expense of rail.

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