ISTANBUL celebrated the opening of its first driverless metro line and the second metro line on the Asian side of the city on December 15, when president Mr Recep Erdoğan attended the inauguration Line M5.

A majority in the Danish parliament, including the government and two other parties, has decided that the operation and maintenance of the Copenhagen S-Train network will be put out to tender in a public-private partnership.

GLOBAL mining company Rio Tinto announced on October 2 that it has successfully completed its the first fully-autonomous trip on its heavy-haul rail network in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

GLOBAL mining company Rio Tinto says automation of its Western Australia Pilbara iron ore heavy-haul rail network (Autohaul) is progressing well, with around 20% of all train kilometres now operating in autonomous mode, albeit with drivers still on-board managing the remaining safety and reliability systems.

ALSTOM announced on January 31 that it has signed a €91m contract with Lyon Transport Authority, Sytral, for the automation of metro lines B and D of the Lyon metro.

THE International Association of Public Transport (UITP) is calling for urban transport authorities to build their own fleets of autonomous vehicles (AVs) for shared use and integration with existing bus and rail services to avoid “a dystopian future of even more private car traffic on the road.”

BOMBARDIER announced on January 12 that it has delivered its first Innovia automated people mover (APM) 300 vehicle to China, and will be used on a shuttle service to Shanghai Metro Line 8.

A study of fully-automated driverless metros conducted by the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) says that the length of such lines is expected to increase from 789km today to 2200km by 2025.

DUTCH infrastructure manager Prorail confirmed at this week's TEN-T Days conference in Rotterdam that it is planning to trial automated operation of freight trains on the Betuweroute dedicated freight line, which links Rotterdam with the German border near Emmerich.