The use of AI in S-Bahn traffic is being expanded. The new head of digital at Deutsche Bahn wants to push ahead with digitization and expand mobile reception, as well as the use of artificial intelligence in S-Bahn operations.
AI in S-Bahn traffic
Artificial intelligence (AI) is initially intended to ensure smoother processes in Deutsche Bahn’s S-Bahn traffic and improve the punctuality of trains. To this end, the pilot project already underway at the S-Bahn in Stuttgart is to be extended to the streetcars in the Rhine-Main region and in Munich. This was announced by the new digital director Daniela Gerd tom Markotten.
AI compensates for delays of up to 8 minutes
Through AI algorithms, dispatchers in control centers are currently already able to compensate for delays of up to 8 minutes in local traffic. And they do so by deciding which trains should enter the station first and when. In addition, based on live operations, the AI continuously simulates how the traffic situation is changing, automatically reporting potential conflicts at an early stage.
“As a result, traffic flows better: trains rarely have to reduce their speed or wait when another train is blocking a section of track,” the Deutsche Bahn announcement says.
Converted to the example of the S-Bahn in Stuttgart, 17 more trains per day and direction would thus be possible on the main line than without AI use. In the long term, however, long-distance traffic should then also be able to benefit from AI technology.
Digitization of the railway
For Gerd tom Markotten, however, the use of AI is just one of three focal points in the digitization of Deutsche Bahn that they plan to tackle this year. The topic of cell phone and Internet reception on trains is also to be advanced so that customers can travel on “all routes without interruption and with sufficiently high bandwidth.”
New long-distance trains are already equipped with radio-permeable windows as standard, he said, which allow signals to pass more easily into the interior of the trains, thus improving reception and connection quality. The company also plans to work with Deutsche Telekom to equip some 7,800 kilometers of track with download speeds of 200 Mbit per second by 2024.
More efficient maintenance
The third focus is on train maintenance. In this context, new sensors on the trains and on the track are designed to make maintenance cycles more efficient, while at the same time shortening the time vehicles spend in the plants.
The entire rail network in Germany is to be digitized by 2035. The interlockings, which are often still operated by hand, are to be converted to digital technology, while the ETCS control and safety technology is to be expanded.
According to Gerd tom Markotten, a faster pace is now necessary in the subject of digitization, but at the same time, the aim is to ensure that all digital components mesh with each other in the best possible way.
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