BergerWorld: 3rd Quarter 2008

Rail, as noted, is a 200-year-old transportation mode that has successfully adopted a number of new technologies to remain competitive over the years. Today, we are in a period of rapid technological growth, and rail planners must continue to identify and adopt innovative technologies developed in other fields to guide rail into the future.

Berger experts are currently exploring opportunities for increased automation and hybrid locomotives. Automation offers the promise of increased utilization, reliability and safety; reduced maintenance costs; and improved use of personnel and energy. The principal advantages of automation include consistent train dispatching and monitoring; direct translation of dispatching decisions into control parameters; operation of several interlockings from a single operation console; computer-aided conflict recognition and resolution; automatic timetable adjustment for delays; and improved management of cross-border traffic.

Although hybrid propulsion technology has yet to be fully introduced into rail transit, significant advances have been made. Currently, prototype hybrid locomotives, capable of reducing nitrogen oxide and diesel emissions by 90 percent, use small, diesel-powered generators to charge large banks of batteries used to power the locomotive's traction motors, creating what would be among the world's most environmentally friendly transport options.