Columbia will soon have autonomous railcars running on the approximately 21-mile Columbia Terminal Railroad, or COLT line.
The city was recently awarded a $16.2 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration, which will fund improvements, safety upgrades and a partnership with Intramotev, an innovative technology company based in St. Louis that builds autonomous, or self-driving, railcars to transport goods.
Don Soffer, the marketing lead at Intramotev, said safety is a top priority for both partners. He said each railcar has an onboard perception system that can identify obstacles on the track.
“It’s not like there’s live footage of what’s happening in front of it,” Soffer said. “It automatically can detect if a human being or if an animal or if a truck is crossing the railroad tracks when it shouldn’t be.”
He said the autonomous freight railcars are actually old railcars that are retrofitted with new batteries, motors and sensors.
Jason West, with Columbia Utilities, said another priority for their department is ensuring that current COLT employees will keep their jobs. He said existing staff will be taught to operate the new system.
West added that the grant could actually create more job opportunities for people in Columbia, as it funds updates to the railroad infrastructure, which should create construction jobs.
Columbia’s partnership with Intramotev has already begun, but it may take a few months for the new autonomous system to get up and running.
The current grant runs for three years.
