Impacts of Unattended Train Operations on Productivity and Efficiency in Metropolitan Railways

Abstract

Urban metro subway systems (metros) around the world are choosing increasing levels of automation for new and existing lines: the global length of metro lines capable of unattended train operation (UTO) is predicted to triple in the next ten years. Despite significant investment in this technology, empirical evidence for the financial and service quality impacts of UTO in metros remains scarce.We used questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with metros of the CoMET and Nova benchmarking groups to assemble emerging evidence for how automation affects costs, staffing, service capacity and reliability.Data from 23 lines suggest that UTO can reduce staff numbers by 30-70%, with the amount of wage cost reduction depending on whether staff on UTO lines are paid more. Based on the experience of seven metros, capital costs of lines capable of unattended operation are higher, but internal rate of return has been estimated by two metros at 10-15%. Automated lines are capable of operating at the highest service frequencies of up to 42 trains per hour, and the limited available data suggest that automated lines are more reliable. Our findings indicate that UTO is a means to a more flexible and reliable operating model that can increase metro productivity and efficiency. We identify important work that is needed to better understand impacts, identifying where statistical analyses will add value once sufficiently large datasets become available.

Potential Benefits and Obstacles of Implementing Driverless Train Operation on the Tyne and Wear Metro: A Simulation Exercise

“…In addition, staff costs can be significantly reduced, or staff (including ex-drivers) can be redeployed to assist passengers directly. These findings have been echoed in the more recent literature, both in general studies of automation [5,[20][21][22][23][24][25] and case studies of specific lines [26][27][28][29]. The continued growth in automated metro systems across the world suggests there are many cities for which these benefits are considered sufficient for adoption of the technology.…”

“…There is a large amount of literature on this topic, and so this sub-section provides a brief summary. The benefits associated with ATO stem from consistent control of train speed profiles [4,19,24,32,33] and greater potential for traffic management strategies to be implemented directly [5,21,22]. These benefits include an increase in the frequency of trains, and/or better recovery from delaysessentially an increase in the capacity of the system.…”

“…One of the most important changes for GoA 4 is that trains no longer need to be staffed at all, which can significantly reduce staff costs and increase the flexibility of the timetable, as the marginal cost of running additional trains is much reduced [19,23,24]. Many GoA 4 systems do have staff on trains and stations, but the key difference to GoA 3 is that the system is capable of operating without any members of staff present if necessary.…”

“…GoA 4 also provides much greater flexibility, allowing train frequencies to be better matched to demand at peak and off-peak times. This offers a much better service to potential passengers, with high frequencies in particular likely to drive an increase in passenger numbers [5,[23][24][25]33]. While unlikely to make much difference in heavily used metro lines that run long trains at high frequencies throughout the day, this is ideally suited for a more lightly used network with several interconnected lines such as the Metro.…”

“…Improved communication and monitoring systems for the passengers are required throughout the system, especially for GoA 4 operation, to provide functions that would otherwise be carried out by a member of staff [21,22,24]. This also applies to remote monitoring and correction (where possible) of faults in equipment by a remote control centre.…”