traffic
Bahn expands AI project for more efficient S-Bahn operations
“With the AI we are able to intervene proactively”: Daniela Gerd tom Markotten. Photo: Fabian Sommer/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The new digital board member in the railway group, Daniela Gerd tom Markotten, wants to speed up digitization.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is initially intended to ensure smoother processes and more punctual trains in Deutsche Bahn’s S-Bahn traffic.
The group now wants to expand a pilot project at the S-Bahn Stuttgart to the S-Bahn Rhein-Main and Munich, as digital director Daniela Gerd tom Markotten announced. “With the AI, we are able to intervene proactively if we see that delays in operations are imminent.”
The dispatchers in the control centers could use the algorithms to decide more quickly which trains should enter the station first and when. In Stuttgart, for example, delays of up to eight minutes could be compensated for in this way, emphasized the board member. The AI also continuously simulates the development of the traffic situation on the basis of live operation and reports conflicts at an early stage.
“As a result, traffic flows better: Trains rarely have to reduce their speed or wait when another train blocks a section of the route,” the railway said. “Converted to the example of the Stuttgart S-Bahn, 17 more trains per day and direction would be possible on the main line.” In the medium term, however, the technology should not remain limited to S-Bahn trains.
According to Gerd tom Markotten, the use of artificial intelligence for more capacity in rail operations is one of three priorities that your department wants to focus on this year. The former Daimler manager took over the board department for digital and technology in the group in September.
In this role, she also wants to promote mobile phone and internet reception on the train. “It is our aim that our customers can travel on all routes without interruption and with a sufficiently high bandwidth.” Mobile phone reception in long-distance traffic is still frequently interrupted, also because there is no infrastructure along the routes.
Gerd tom Markotten referred to radio-permeable panes, which new long-distance trains are equipped with as standard and which can better direct the signal into the interior of the car. In addition, the group, together with Telekom, is aiming to equip around 7,800 kilometers of track with download speeds of 200 Mbit per second by 2024.
In maintenance, on the other hand, sensors on trains and along the route should make maintenance cycles more efficient and, above all, reduce the time vehicles spend in the factories.
The federal government and the railway industry want to digitize the entire rail network in Germany by 2035. Above all, this includes the conversion of the signal boxes, which are often still operated manually, to digital technology and the expansion of the ETCS control and safety technology. Experts are calling for significantly more speed on all of these topics. “We agree that we need more and faster digitization,” emphasized Gerd tom Markotten. Above all, the interaction of all digital components is important.