FRA approves first autonomous railcar test program

It was not immediately clear when the pilot program would begin. Trains News Wire has sought comment from G&W and Parallel.

Parallel’s prototype flatcar can carry one intermodal container 500 miles on a single battery charge. The batteries in each truck power the car’s traction motors. The autonomous system relies on cameras and sensors, as well as software in computers on board the car and at a data center. Electronic brakes can bring cars to a stop in one-tenth the distance of conventional equipment with air brakes.

The approval grants Parallel, Georgia Central and Heart of Georgia railroads 22 waivers from car and locomotive regulations that cover everything from cabs and sanders to brake valves and uncoupling levers. The decision includes 23 conditions that Parallel and the railroads must follow during the pilot program.

Parallel and G&W plan a seven-phase test program. The complexity of the operations will increase with each phase. The FRA must deem each phase successful before the companies can move on to the next phase.

The FRA received 154 comments during the public comment period. Of those, 32 supported the pilot program while 122 raised concerns.

“Although many of the public comments were directly related to safety, many comments, both supporting and opposed to the proposed program, are relevant only if this type of operation were to be approved to operate on the general railroad system, but are not relevant to this specific pilot test program,” Alexy wrote. “These comments will certainly be important when/if railroads seek approval for further testing or to operate.”

Parallel and the G&W short lines have said safety is the first priority of each phase of the test program.

Parallel’s battery-electric cars — which can run alone or together as an autonomous platoon of up to 50 cars — can each carry a single container. They can operate at up to 25 mph and tackle grades as steep as 3%. They’re also undergoing testing in Australia.

“These design features are intended to help railroads better compete against trucks in the short-haul movement of intermodal containers rather than to replace conventional railroad rolling stock,” the application says.

The tests aim to evaluate the three primary components of the Parallel system: the autonomous vehicles themselves, the user terminals that allow people to control the equipment, and the computer servers that send data between the vehicles and the user terminals.

The test program will be conducted on portions of the Heart of Georgia from Milepost 663, just east of Cordele, to the connection with Georgia Central at Milepost 577.8 in Vidalia, and then on Georgia Central from Milepost 577.8 to Milepost 503 near Pooler.

The first phase will involve only a 2-mile section of track on the Heart of Georgia that’s free of grade crossings. The test track will be severed from the rest of the railroad by removing the rails at both ends.

Phase two will be expanded to a 30-mile section of the Heart of Georgia. Testing will be performed under track warrants with no other rail operations present and all public grade crossings protected by flaggers.

Phases three and four will operate over an 84-mile section of track between Vidalia and Cordele on the Heart of Georgia and will include tests under track warrant control as well as in yard limits. The HOG-Norfolk Southern diamond at Milepost 610.7 will be protected by derails.

The fifth phase of testing will incorporate updated hardware and will involve the first use of containers on the Parallel cars on a 30-mile section of the Heart of Georgia, between Vidalia and just east of Helena.

Testing ramps up in phases six and seven and will operate over a 160-mile section of the Heart of Georgia and Georgia Central.

“Phase Six operations are intended to evaluate the operational effectiveness of the System in field conditions operating intermixed with conventional rail service as governed by the railroad dispatchers and operating rules. Containers containing test weights will be transported on the Vehicle,” the application says.

The final phase will evaluate platooning with loaded containers. “A limited number of revenue containers may be moved in Phase Seven, allowing for an assessment of damage-in-transit, to compare this unique new technology with direct truck competition. Otherwise, containers will carry test load weights,” the application says.

The G&W railroads are viewed as ideal test beds due to their proximity to the booming Port of Savannah and their isolated sections of track with no grade crossings.

Ultimately, the plan would be to use platoons of autonomous cars to deliver containers to the small intermodal terminal in Cordele on the HOG, which has been dormant since 2017.

The goal, as East Coast ports grow, is to take trucks off the road in short-haul markets where the railroad has already proved it can’t currently compete.