RWTH Researchers Transforming Rural Rail Travel
Trains every 10 or 15 minutes – and in rural areas. And this rail service is not only sustainable and economically viable, it also runs autonomously in response to the increasing shortage of skilled workers. The Aachen Rail Shuttle (ARS) sounds like a great idea for public transportation in rural areas. The prototype developed at RWTH is currently being produced and is due to be presented in September.
“The service in cities is great,” says project manager Christian Frowein from the Chair and Institute for Rail Vehicles and Transport Systems (IFS) at RWTH, “but in rural areas, most routes are served by one relatively long train per hour or even less.” If the lines were not closed completely, they were simply not economical to operate.
Passenger dissatisfaction levels are at an all-time high and taking local public transportation is therefore often not considered a true alternative to driving. The RWTH researchers want to bring about significant changes here. The idea: Instead of a long train consisting cars, a series of individual cars, each no longer than a public bus at just over 13 meters, come every quarter of an hour. The cars are battery-powered and autonomous. This is sustainable, effective, and also highly attractive to potential customers.
Around four years ago, Institute Director Professor Christian Schindler developed the idea of the driverless alternative together with students in response to the major challenge of the lack of economic efficiency in operations, particularly in rural areas. Längst ist dieser Gedanke aber auch zur Antwort auf den zunehmenden Fachkräftemangel geworden. The ZDF cites a study by the Competence Center for Securing Skilled Workers (Kofa) of the German Economic Institute (IW), stating that there is a disproportionate shortage of train drivers, currently around 4,000, due in particular to the transformation of transportation. “This is yet another reason why operators in particular are very interested in our work,” says Christian Frowein.
Small, single railcars, such as those planned and built at RWTH since mid-2021, do not currently exist in the manufacturer’s portfolio, “simply because the demand was not there,” explains Frowein. As there is now a trend towards reactivating disused routes in rural areas, “we are not the only ones thinking in this direction.” What is unique, however, is the single railcar service that is both battery-powered and driverless. An emergency driver system is available, but will only be used for the first test drives, which are set to begin in the near future.
The overall Aachen Rail Shuttle project is split up into various areas. In the Flexible Rail Bus for Rural Areas (FlexSBus-LR) Project, the mobile undercarriage is being developed in a consortium with the large corporations Schaeffler and Knorr-Bremse as well as several regional medium-sized companies. The chassis can be driven on its own, the passenger car on top – the substructure can thus also be used for freight transportation later. In addition to vehicle development, IFS scientists are also working on a parallel project with cooperation partners, including FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences, on topics such as sensor technology, environment recognition, and AI training related to driverless driving.
The physical design of the Rail Shuttle has been completed and the railcar shells are currently being manufactured at the Laser Bearbeitungs- und Beratungszentrum (LBBZ), a partner for machining and manufacturing with laser technology, in Geilenkirchen. Whether and when series production can start depends crucially on the approval of driverless driving. However, according to Frowein, it is also conceivable that some cars will be delivered driverless for pilot projects and others with a driver’s cab. This is because the high frequency and low unit costs mean that shuttles with drivers can also be economically attractive for route operators.
And then an important environmental aspect comes into play: According to Frowein, around 40 percent of the existing German rail network is not electrified,” so we can achieve zero local emissions there with our battery-powered railcars.” In addition, a reactivation study by the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV), advocates for certain lines to be reopened as a sustainable, efficient, and also economically viable solution due to the driverless nature of the rail service.