At the first stage there will be a driver in the cabin
Russian Railways plans to begin transporting passengers along the Moscow Central Circle (MCC) by unmanned train this summer. The press service of Russian Railways reported that the scientific and technical council of the holding, chaired by General Director Oleg Belozerov, confirmed its readiness to launch an unmanned train on the MCC. For now this will be the third level of automation – with the driver present in the cab.
In addition, the council summed up the interim results of testing electric trains with the fourth level of automation. In this case, the presence of the driver in the cab is not required: the rolling stock is controlled automatically, under the remote control of the driver-operator. Earlier, the head of Russian Railways reported that the launch of a completely unmanned train could take place in 2026.
The council also discussed issues of import substitution and safety: it was noted that the equipment necessary for automatic control of electric trains will be produced by domestic enterprises or supplied from friendly countries. It is planned to develop standards for the use of LTE broadband communications necessary for organizing remote control, and to create end-to-end technology for ensuring the safety of traffic control systems.