DriverlesstraincompletestestrunonShenzhenMetroLine20
From: Shenzhen Daily
Updated: 2021-05-24 09:05
A test run on Shenzhen Metro’s Line 20, the city’s first fully automated Metro line, was successfully carried out last week, marking a step forward in the operation of a driverless Metro line that is to be functional before the end of the year.
The electricity-powered train, with a maximum speed of 120 km per hour, underwent tests on the power supply, signal machines, communication devices, wires and electromechanical systems. At the test stage, drivers are deployed as an aid for the driverless technologies, according to a release of Shenzhen Metro Group on Friday.
Phase I of Line 20, the 8.43-km rail, has five stations. The rapid transit rail line connects Terminal 4 of Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport and Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center in Bao’an District.
The driverless technologies will be applied to lines 12, 13 and 14, and later on Line 16, when they are put into operation in 2022 and 2023, according to Shenzhen Metro Group.
By then, the total Metro rail network in Shenzhen will have expanded to 568 kilometers in total. In China, 32 fully automated Metro lines will be starting service across 16 cities by 2022.
Fully automated Metro lines offer numerous advantages over their human-controlled counterparts, data showed.
Metro lines with unattended train operations can reduce required manpower by 30-70 percent, achieve higher frequency, increase space for passengers and improve reliability by over 50 percent, as per Alstom standards, a world leader in integrated transport systems.
Shenzhen plans to have 33 of these Metro lines, with a total length of 1,335 kilometers, operating in 2035.