Prospects of autonomous railway transport development

The implementation of unmanned train control systems offers a number of advantages, such as increasing the capacity of railway lines and traffi c volumes, reducing the ‘human factor’, as well as reducing operating costs. The paper considers the challenges arising from the use of automatic train control systems, and presents the prospects for the implementation of automatic technologies in railway transport for various railway systems. The social and economic aspects of changing professional activities in railway transport are described. Grades of automation applicable to surface urban railwaytransport are presented. The issues of proving the functional safety of machine vision systems as part of the train traffic control system and determining their level of safety completeness are discussed. Examples of railway transport automation in Russia and other countries are given. Basic scenarios of automatic control system operation describing normal and abnormal situations are formulated. In conclusion, the levels of technological readiness of the reviewed solutions in the fi eld of train traffic automation are defi ned. The tasks faced by railway companies in implementing these technologies are outlined, and possible ways of overcoming obstacles to the introduction of automatic systems are proposed, taking into account the current political situation.