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3/13/2026
Compiled by Jeff Stagl, Managing Editor
Brookville Equipment Corp. continues striving to push the boundaries of locomotive automation with its fully autonomous electric locomotive, company officials said in an email. The advanced solution is designed to meet the evolving demands of industrial and heavy-duty rail operations, such as the Rio Tinto’s IOCC application.
This next-generation rail vehicle represents a significant enhancement in the company’s technology portfolio, Brookville officials said. Engineered to operate without a human operator in the cab, the autonomous electric locomotive is built to function reliably in extreme temperatures.
It can withstand conditions as low as -54 degrees Fahrenheit while delivering energy-efficient performance, company officials said. The system integrates robust onboard control and navigation capabilities, allowing the vehicle to safely execute complex routings and tasks typical in intermodal cargo and industrial settings.
Brookville’s approach to automation reflects the broader trends railroads and industrial operators are seeking today: greater operational efficiency, enhanced safety and lower lifecycle costs, company officials said. By combining all-electric propulsion with autonomous control logic, the locomotive enables smooth integration with modern traffic management systems and remote oversight tools.
“This aligns with industry priorities to reduce risk to personnel, optimize asset utilization and lower emissions in high-intensity operations,” Brookville officials said.
In addition to its autonomous platform, the company continues to support customers with tailored locomotive control systems, advanced diagnostics and electrification options that can meet specific operational goals. By investing in automation and electrification technologies, Brookville is positioned to help railroads and industrial partners transition toward smarter, safer and more sustainable locomotive fleets, company officials said.
North American aftermarket parts/components manufacturer and distributor PowerRail now offers an Automatic Engine Start/Stop (AESS) system from Integral Control Systems.
Compatible with nearly every locomotive model in service, the AESS technology is designed to reduce unnecessary idling by automatically shutting down a locomotive when it’s not in use and restarting it to resume operations.
“This reduced idling means locomotives consume less fuel, leading to significant cost savings,” PowerRail officials said. “Less idling also means less wear and tear on the engine, which can lower maintenance expenses and prolong the lifespan of the locomotive’s engine.”
In addition, the AESS idle reduction technology reduces harmful pollutants — such as nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and particulate matter — leading to reduced emissions and better air quality, they said. That helps to meet certain Environmental Protection Agency emission requirements.
The AESS system features a compact design — less than 8 inches wide, 9 inches tall and 13 inches deep — and weighs less than 15 pounds. The system offers a quick and simple installation and integrates seamlessly with a wide range of locomotives, PowerRail officials said.
Progress Rail continues to strengthen its position as a leader in locomotive innovation through recent enhancements across its advanced rail technology portfolio, company officials said. One of its newer advancements is EMD® battery-electric and hybrid diesel-electric locomotives, which offer zero-exhaust emission capabilities for a range of applications.
The locomotives feature battery capacities up to 14.5 MWh, regenerative braking and wayside charging options, enabling railroads to operate cleaner, more efficient fleets, Progress Rail officials said.
The company has also advanced its automation capabilities through the Talos™ energy management and train automation system. Talos leverages machine learning and high-performance computing to optimize train routing, reduce fuel consumption, decrease emissions and improve overall train handling — directly supporting both operational and sustainability goals, Progress Rail officials said.
Additionally, the company’s Automatic Engine Start/Stop (AESS™) system can help further reduce unnecessary idling by monitoring locomotive conditions and shutting down the engine when appropriate.
The PR Uptime™ Suite is transforming rail operations with an end-to-end, IoT-enabled platform that uses real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance and advanced analytics to boost locomotive performance and reduce unplanned downtime, Progress Rail officials said. Powered by the next-generation Uptime IQ engine and its scalable cloud ecosystem, the suite synthesizes historical and live data to increase fleet availability, shorten shop dwell time and guide smarter, impact-based repair decisions.
With seamless connectivity, actionable insights and AI-driven asset management, Progress Rail aims to set a new industry benchmark for reliability, efficiency and intelligent rail operations, company officials said.
By combining automation, analytics and sustainable locomotive platforms, Progress Rail is delivering the technologies railroads increasingly demand — systems that enhance safety, optimize operations, support emissions-reduction goals and ultimately strengthen network performance for the future of rail, they said.
With constant pressure to create cost saving efficiencies, automation in locomotive training is one of the most under-the-radar changes happening in the railroad industry, PS Technology Inc. (PST) officials said. This indicates that “systems thinking” has taken root, creating ways to provide meaningful training and safety improvements while also achieving operating ratio goals, they said.
PST notes that railroads now are requesting automation workflows that link a variety of digital training simulation tools into learning management systems (LMS) and qualification tracking tools.
This is where the systems-thinking approach is engaged. Essentially, it becomes a daisy-chain of virtual training that addresses both the requirements of the railroad and the FRA, culminating with field testing and certification as appropriate, PST officials said. Computer-based training (CBT) can be self-proctored, and a configured LMS and qualifications management software can automatically progress workers through training.
The CBTs can provide self-serve and customization capabilities to trainers for knowledge training, virtual car inspections, air-brake inspections and daily locomotive inspections. When successfully completed, the knowledge training effectively promotes the worker to the next stage of simulation training, such as distributed power and specific route recertifications. The goal is to create a training process that automatically creates consistently trained workers along with auditable records, PST officials said.
PST also has updated its QualPro qualifications system to v2.0 so it provides visibility of worker training while also automating the scheduling of managers activities, meeting a railroad’s training and testing goals, they said.
Another improvement is report generation. When the FRA requests records, QualPro can publish custom consolidated reports matching the FRA’s request in minutes, PST officials said.
Railspire has developed AI autonomous locomotive technology targeting yard and local operations, which fundamentally changes remote operation of locomotives by shifting the operator’s focus from controlling the locomotive to commanding the locomotive, company officials said.
The system integrates digital track data, speed limits, locomotive models and consist information with a proprietary authority control model, removing the need for an operator to explicitly select throttle positions and brake applications to control speed to a destination, they said. The operator selects their route and the Railspire Network Controlled Locomotive (NCL) system handles the locomotive.
“This allows the operator to focus entirely on situational awareness, safety and yard productivity,” company officials said.
Last year, Railspire deployed NCL to the existing fleet of an industrial short line, operating in their busiest yard that processes about 1,800 to 2,000 rail cars every 24 hours. The NCL system has enabled the short line to add new safeguards, such as directional speed limits, which further improves efficiency and safety when entering the yard with loaded cars and exiting the yard with empty cars, Railspire officials said.
The railroad currently is working on integrating an existing yard automated switch system to dramatically reduce and potentially eliminate the occurrence of run-through switches by feeding switch status directly into the NCL authority control model, they said.
The NCL system can be installed on both low- and high-horsepower locomotives and is compatible with both major installed locomotive brake systems. Railspire has engaged with multiple yard automation vendors to “consume switch status and occupancy data with minimal changes,” company officials said.
Track data can be consumed from existing railroad surveys or generated from the NCL locomotives themselves. Each piece of the system has been designed to yield the maximum benefit from rail yards, while laying the foundation for the future of rail automation, Railspire officials said.
AI infrastructure inspection company Scout Robotics has reached a major breakthrough with enhancements to its LARR-E locomotive-mounted inspection platform and Scout OS dashboard to support real-time, data-driven location monitoring for freight-rail operations, company officials said. The enhancements expand the role of the locomotive from a transport asset to an active inspection and automation node within a rail network, they said.
The LARR-E system mounts on in-service locomotives and hi-rail vehicles to collect infrastructure data during normal train operations. Using multimodal sensing that includes visual, LiDAR, GPS, laser and thermal imaging, the system is designed to capture track geometry measurements, right-of-way conditions, catenary components, signals and adjacent assets.
Data is processed at the edge and tagged with real-time location information to provide precise geospatial indexing of detected conditions, including in GPS-denied environments, Scout Robotics officials said.
Recent upgrades focus on automated change detection and predictive defect modeling. By comparing repeat runs over the same territory, the platform enables continuous data uplink, identifies condition changes over time and flags developing issues such as rail wear progression, ballast degradation, clearance risks and overhead wire irregularities, company officials said. This enables maintenance teams to prioritize interventions based on observed deterioration trends rather than fixed inspection cycles.
The Scout OS dashboard consolidates inspection outputs into a unified interface for visualization, fault classification, work-order support and report generation. The system also supports automated reporting and standardized testing outputs for integration into digital maintenance systems.
Through the integration of real-time location data, multimodal sensing and automated analysis within a portable platform, Scout Robotics supports transit and freight operators in advancing toward continuous, automated inspection workflows aligned with current operational and safety requirements, company officials said.
Wabtec Corp. has introduced what company officials characterize as a fundamentally new approach to digitally enhancing aging locomotives: Pathfinder, which enables railroads to invest in advanced digital technology without spending capital on aging locomotives that struggle to support modern systems.
With Pathfinder, customers can decouple their technology strategy from the mechanical life of older locomotive assets, Wabtec officials said.
Many legacy locomotives weren’t designed to adopt today’s automation and safety technologies, including positive train control (PTC), Trip Optimizer, remote-control operations, teleoperation and advanced perception systems. Retrofitting these functions directly onto older platforms is often costly, complex and difficult to justify, but Pathfinder addresses this challenge, Wabtec officials said.
Pathfinder is a compact, purpose-built digital vehicle designed to automate the train, not the locomotive. The locomotive provides propulsion and air, while Pathfinder delivers advanced automation, control and decision-making functions. It intentionally separates the “brain” from the “brawn,” Wabtec officials said.
By coupling Pathfinder to a locomotive and connecting through the MU cable, legacy assets gain immediate access to Wabtec’s latest digital and automation technologies without invasive mechanical modifications.
“This new product provides an economical way to enhance train performance. It drives fuel savings, labor optimization and new network access opportunities through PTC, which extends asset life and unlocks new operational value,” Wabtec officials said.