WASHINGTON — The Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, the umbrella group that includes all railroad labor unions, today urged Congress and federal regulators to protect workers whose jobs are affected by the rollout of automated and autonomous railroad technology. In a broadside against technological advances — including automated track and train inspection systems, automated […]
BERLIN —The InnoTrans trade fair in late September brought together almost all major manufacturers, large and small, serving the global rail industry. Every InnoTrans edition has one or more overall themes in terms of new technology, and in 2024 the buzz words were AI (Artificial Intelligence) and alternative power sources for trains. In both cases, […]
ST. LOUIS — Intramotev, the startup company that converts conventional freight cars to battery-electric, self-propelled vehicles, has debuted an autonomous double-stack car. The company showed off the TugVolt well car in a video released this week. The 20-year-old former TTX car carries two 40-foot international containers as it moves independently along trackage in Intramotev’s facility. […]
KARRATHA, Western Australia — Rio Tinto has fully reopened its mining railroad in Western Australia’s Pilbara region after the collision last week involving two autonomous trains, with the Australian Financial Review reporting the mining company has suspended a procedure known as “on-site override” while investigation into the incident continues. One line of the two-track main […]
ST. LOUIS – Intramotev, which retrofits freight cars with autonomous, self-propelled battery electric technology, today announced a partnership with global mining company Carmeuse Americas to deploy its TugVolt cars at a limestone mine in Cedarville, Mich. “We couldn’t have asked for a better partner to deploy our technology in Michigan than Carmeuse,” Intramotev CEO Tim […]
ST. LOUIS – Intramotev, which is converting standard freight cars into autonomous rail vehicles, says it has successfully deployed the world’s first self-propelled battery-electric railcar in a traditional freight train. In what Intramotev called a major step forward for sustainable freight transportation, the company’s ReVolt hopper has run more than 1,000 miles making trips between […]
VIDALIA, Ga. – Railroad labor union leaders today urged the Federal Railroad Administration to reject or at least severely restrict a proposal that would allow a pair of Genesee & Wyoming short lines to conduct intensive tests of Parallel Systems autonomous, self-propelled battery-electric freight cars. The Heart of Georgia and Georgia Central railroads last year […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration will hold a public hearing regarding two Genesee & Wyoming short lines’ proposal to test Parallel Systems autonomous flat cars in Georgia. The hearing will be held March 12 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Vidalia, Ga., and will be livestreamed, the FRA announced today. People can submit […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration is seeking public comments on Genesee & Wyoming short lines’ request to test Parallel Systems autonomous, self-propelled battery-electric freight cars. The FRA, in a decision published in the Federal Register today, said it has accepted the Georgia Central Railway and Heart of Georgia Railroad petition for a test program […]
LOS ANGELES — Parallel Systems today for the first time demonstrated the platooning capability of the autonomous, battery-electric container cars that it is developing for short-haul intermodal service. The self-propelled cars lack traditional Janney railroad couplers. Instead, they can operate in platoons through bumper-to-bumper contact and coordinating tractive effort among all of the cars in […]
Parallel Systems, the Los Angeles-based startup that’s developing an autonomous, battery-electric, self-propelled intermodal freight car system, today demonstrated a prototype it developed for Australian railroad operator Arc Infrastructure. Arc, which manages and operates 3,400 miles of railroad in southwestern Australia, conducted the demonstration at its Kenwick Rail Freight Facility for government and industry officials, the […]
WOODLAND, Wash. – A Washington state port will serve as a test bed for Glīd Technologies’ autonomous intermodal vehicle. The Port of Woodland and Glīd have announced a partnership that will allow testing of the Glīder prototype on a rail spur at the port’s Schurman Way Industrial Park, they announced on Friday. “Glīd is at […]
