The work package “Future Shunting” of the TARO research project resulted in the development of a simulation tool that assists in the planning of shunting activities of freight trains. Every step of the shunting process and all the required resources, including personnel and infrastructure, are being considered. Moreover, the developed tool lays the foundation for algorithms that could be used for automated shunting operations in the future.
Optimized shunting is one step of many in order to reverse the current downward trend in the share of rail transport on the freight market and achieve a turnaround.
“Through digitalisation and automation, we want to take make freight transport more efficient and offer better services to our customers”, says Karl Zöchmeister, ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG.