Thousands of trains are assembled in the shunting yards every day. Shunting locomotives are used for this. The aim is for these locomotives to run automatically. All brakes on the trains are checked manually before each departure. Sensors and radio transmission should make this possible much more quickly and remotely in future. There are currently no ready-made solutions on the market for projects of this kind. Comprehensive development and testing work can only be financed with additional support.

The funding is a measure from the BMVI's "Future of Rail Freight Transport" federal program adopted in May 2020. The programme promotes the digitalization and automation of environmentally friendly rail freight transport. From 2020 to 2024, 30 million euros per year have been earmarked for this in the federal budget. Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer: "We want to get more freight traffic onto environmentally friendly rail. To achieve this, freight trains must be able to be put together efficiently, quickly and cost-effectively. That is why we are promoting the practical testing of automatic and digital technologies in shunting operations. Our goal is strong rail. And that also means strong freight transport."

"The Munich North marshalling yard will be our testing ground for the future. We will strengthen single wagonload transport as the backbone of the economy, and digitalization and automation will help us to do this. The fact that this innovation boost is now receiving financial start-up support is the right step," says Dr. Sigrid Nikutta, DB Board Member for Freight Transport at Deutsche Bahn.

Further innovative technologies are to be tested in Munich North, with which damage to freight wagons can be automatically detected or work processes can be organized more efficiently using artificial intelligence (AI). Digital Automatic Coupling (DAK) is also to be tested here in shunting operations.