Full metro automation has been a reality for over 35 years; every day, over 1000 km of metro are operated automatically around the world, carrying millions of passengers safely and reliably to their destination. A quarter of the world’s metros already have at least one fully automated line, representing 7% of the metro infrastructure in operation today. In the coming 5 years, full automation is expected to become the mainstream design for new metro lines. Yet authorities, decision-makers and operators still face many questions on the advantages of automation over conventional operation.
This Knowledge Brief presents the analysis of the experienced networks of the UITP Observatory of Automated Metros on the benefits that full automated operation (FAO) can bring to a metro network.