JR East will introduce ‘driverless operation’, which does not require a driver onboard, on the Shinkansen.
The introduction will first be on the Joetsu Shinkansen, followed by the Hokuriku Shinkansen, and then the Tohoku Shinkansen in sequence. This will mark the world’s first driverless operation on the Shinkansen.
The company aims to start with the 60.8 kilometers between Nagaoka Station and the Niigata Shinkansen Vehicle Center for both commercial and non-commercial trains’ automatic operation (GOA2) in fiscal year 2028, and the 5.21 kilometers between Niigata Station and the Niigata Shinkansen Vehicle Center for non-commercial trains’ driverless operation (GOA4) in fiscal year 2029, beginning construction on ground facilities and vehicle modifications.
Following this, by the mid-2030s, after introducing automatic operation (GOA2) between Tokyo and Nagaoka Station, the aim is to introduce driverless operation (GOA3) for commercial trains and driverless operation (GOA4) for non-commercial trains between Tokyo and Niigata Station. Future plans include exploring the introduction of automatic operation on the Hokuriku Shinkansen and the Tohoku Shinkansen.
This will allow for flexible operation of trains depending on demand, and enable crew members to engage in various other duties.
In preparation for the introduction of driverless operation, various research and development efforts are underway, including devices for automatically running the trains according to schedule and devices for automatically detecting abnormalities, with the goal of practical application.
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This article was generated using automatic translation by GPT-4 API. The translation may not be accurate.
