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Mining co. says first autonomous freight train network fully operational
On Friday, major mining corporation Rio Tinto announced that its AutoHaul autonomous train system in Western Australia had logged more than 1 million km (620,000 mi) since July 2018, S&P Global Platts reported. Rio Tinto calls its now-fully-operational autonomous train system the biggest robot in the world.
The train system serves 14 mines that deliver to four port terminals. Two mines that are closest to a port terminal will retain human engineers because they are very short lines, according to Perth Now.
The train system took ten years to build and cost Rio Tinto AUD $1.3 billion (USD $916 million) to implement. The trains are remotely monitored by a crew located 1,500 km (932 mi) away in Perth.
According to the mining company, the autonomous trains make sure the rails are clear ahead and monitor internal systems as well, checking for faulty wheels or couplers and bringing the train to a stop if there's a problem.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Wednesday January 02 2019, @11:06PM
We haven't had elevator operators since I was a kid, and that was well over fifty years ago.
Now, I see a train as more like a horizontal elevator, confined on rails. It is extremely limited by its construction what it can do. It puzzles me why a human is involved in it anymore at all. This is a job for relays, motors, and comm lines to report malfunctions.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]