Rio Tinto Iron Ore Trains have been running unmanned since around October 2018. There are many driverless trains around the world but except for these, they are suburban or metro trains like the Singapore MRT. Rio Tinto in Western Australia was the first company to run freighters (and very big ones 2.3 kms long and 33,000 tons) unmanned. The trains are not driven by remote control, that is by someone watching a monitor from a camera on the front of the loco and driving the train as if he were in the cab, but rather by a computer program that is already in place. The train controller sets the route as he's always done, sends the 'start' command to the train, and then leaves it to run by itself with the program throttling up and down, applying and releasing the brakes, etc. according to the track profile and the signals the controller has set. Eg; If the controller wants the train to stop at a certain signal, he'll put that signal to red and the train will stop there by itself with no input from the controller. When he wants it to move again, he'll put the signal to green and the train will move off with no input from the controller. I say 'signals' but there are no trackside signals. The entire system has ATP and the signals are in the track. Before AutoHaul (or 'RoboTrain' as I call it) they were displayed on the driver's screen.

Here, I set one up to depart the Cape Lambert yard in December 2019. The whole procedure takes around 30 minutes and would bore you to tears so I start the video at the final four or five steps. I explain what I'm doing but when I leave the cab, the wind noise is quite loud although there was barely a breeze blowing, but the camera's mic makes it sound like a hurricane so I'll tell you what I'm saying here.

When I'm on the ground, I say "the only thing left to do now is throw this switch from 'disabled' to 'enabled' which allows the train controller to take control of the train". In the car, my call sign is ML25 and I ask for a PFM which is 'prepare for mission'. That's telling the controller that the train is fully set up, I'm clear of it, and he can send it on its way at his leisure (although it's almost always right away). Out of the car to film the departure, I say "the bells will ring, the horn will sound, and the train will move off by itself. I don't know where it's going (we have a dozen mines from 250 kms to 500 kms from here) but let's say it goes to the furthest one out, it'll go 500 kms empty, load itself, and come 500 kms back with no one in the cab".