Sydney Metro driving controls unveiled | Driverless metro service Northwest: Tallawong to Chatswood

An unusual situation occurred on a Sydney Metro Northwest service from Tallawong to Chatswood on July 3, 2019.
Around Epping station, an operator needed to supervise the automatic train movement, thus unveiling the drivings controls of a driverless metro, more specifically an Alstom Metropolis electric multiple unit.

[@railfanworld]

For photos, please visit railfanworld.com/photos/australia/2019/sydney-metro-controls

[@dannygayler90]

Sorry Mate , but no amount of arguments regarding ultimate safety will ever convince me that these trains are safe ?

[@wonga28168]

This is cool. A full hidden driving gears at the front windows, far left corner.

[@railfanworld]

Yep. Thanks for watching!

[@spacyorspicy]

Wow that's cool trains! Love you dude!!!❤❤

[@railfanworld]

Thanks mate!

[@spacyorspicy]

Pin me please.

[@TransportBuff]

Great Video! Just checked ur website out. Love it, great info, and love the consistency and navigation of it. Very interesting, even for non train lovers. :)

[@railfanworld]

Thank you so much for that very positive feedback. Happy to hear that!

[@TransportBuff]

No worries. Happy to provide feedback when you have awesome content. :)

[@sydneyrailschannel9280]

1:04, on the phone control, it’s that for the call or the announcement

[@Tmm42s]

The phone is for the TETRA two way radio system (Similar to the GSM-R system used on other trains)… it’s a system used for critical communications.

[@dannygayler90]

Not for me , I prefer a driver at the controls , not a robot !

[@McBrabus]

your emotions are stronger than your logic (no pun intended here). All rail safety and statistics reports (provided by reputable sources and agencies) show and clearly demonstrate that a likelihood of an accident during train operation (revenue service) are significantly larger in cases of manual (driver) mode operation in comparison to a fully automated (driverless) operating mode. You may well be aware, that driving trains is extremely repetitive (and boring) task which can lead to and pose a significant physical and mental health risk to the train operators. Performing repetitive tasks typically produces boredom, complacency, lack of attention span or alertness, all of which can result in and lead to errors and mistakes (which is perfectly expected and normal). You see, "robots" as you called it, and modern automated (computer) control systems, do not have such problems - they are programmed to do boring repetitive jobs, all while ensuring a high level of safety. Happy riding :)

[@dannygayler90]

@@McBrabus Adding to the unemployment que , next it will be goods trains , then cars then big rigs and hopefully politicians and bureaucrats ? Thankfully no trains down here in Hobart robotic or otherwise ?

[@McBrabus]

@@dannygayler90 there are several other high paying jobs in demand currently (and will continue to be so in the future) other than "operators" of trains, buses, trucks etc. As you could imagine, all these "robotic machinery" (as you called them) need to be designed, engineered, built, tested & certified, operated, maintained, replaced, and ultimately "connected & synched" with a shoreside infrastructure which also needs to be designed, built, operated, maintained etc. ALL THIS will create magnitudes of opportunities for growth, development and multidisciplinary jobs which will EMPLOY more people than ever before. BUT, it is totally ok and understandable that this "robotic" approach and inherent benefits, may not be as obvious to "some of us". On a downside, indeed many "operators" will have to requalify, retrain and learn new set of skills (or simply choose to do nothing) - which was always the case throughout the human history.

[@dannygayler90]

@@McBrabus ??????

[@raph6931]

@@dannygayler90 I'm sorry to tell you this Danny, but automation is simply the way of the world. All the things you take for granted in your life were built using automation. The only reason you can afford a car is because a robot built it. The only reason food is as cheap as it is, is because there are machines used for harvesting and packaging. This is the way of the world, so get used to it. The reality is, driverless trains are better than drivered trains in pretty much every way. They can accelerate more precisely, making them faster, and are far more safe. They can also run closer together, allowing more capacity. The benefits far outweigh the costs, and they will continue to do so. I'd like to point out to you just how slow the progress will be, by the way. Most metro lines built in Sydney are new lines, so in the last 5 years since the metro started first construction, we've only lost ~15 train stations to metro out of a list of hundreds. There are no plans in any of the future metros to convert existing drivered rail, and in fact there are plans to expand the drivered rail network to the new airport. It's not even like it's happening quickly. So far, as a result of the metro, Zero driver jobs have been lost. None