Japan successfully completes its tests with a self-piloted bullet train

1. EFE

The Japanese railway company East Japan Railways reported on Wednesday on its successfully completed tests with a self-piloted bullet train, with the idea of ​​introducing this system in the future due to the lack of specialized manpower.

The test was carried out in the Niigata prefecture (northwest of the country) with a 12-car E-7 series train that was operated automatically, after its driver, who was driving it in manual mode, activated the autopilot. This is the first test of this type carried out with a high-speed train that was already in commercial operations, according to JR East.

Although the aim of the railway company is for the trains to operate fully automatically in the future, during the test several train drivers and technical staff remained in the control cabin in case of any problem.

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The train traveled about 5 kilometers between Niigata station and reached a maximum speed of 110 kilometers per hour before stopping at the Niigata railway depot, meeting safety standards for braking.

JR East has been carrying out test runs of shinkansen trains that were not in service since the end of October, tests that included emergency stops of the vehicles.

self-driving trains

The company, which has also tested self-driving trains on other prototypes and on the Tokyo urban rail line, has not yet decided when these autopilot systems would be introduced to its operations.

In Japan, there are already automated systems to direct certain monorail trains, including a line in the capital, on railways that do not have crossings or run at ground level.

Other of the country's largest operators are carrying out similar tests in other parts of the Japanese archipelago, in response to the problem of the lack of pilots, which will worsen in the coming years according to demographic projections.