Impact of Automation on the Capacity of a Mainline Railway: A Preliminary Hypothesis and Methodology

The increase in demand for capacity on railways has presented railway organisations with the impetus to implement automation systems on their networks. Automation has been seen as a key solution for improving the reliability of production in various industries. In the case of railways this would be improving the reliability of service, so that more passengers and goods can be moved, essentially improving the capacity. This paper provides a preliminary hypothesis and methodology for identifying the increase in capacity that comes with increasing the level of automation within a railway. This paper proposes a classification of the various railway technologies, such as ETCS, DAS and ATO, into distinct levels of automation for a mainline railway. Further, contributing factors to delays are identified and a preliminary relationship is defined. A methodology to test the hypothesis is proposed at the end.