Autonomous freight railcar builder to provide two cars for Missouri short line

Autonomous freight railcar builder Intramotev this week said it will provide its technology for a federally funded project to run robotic locomotives on Missouri’s Columbia Terminal Railroad (COLT).

Specifically, Saint Louis, Missouri-based Intramotev will serve as the technology partner on a $16.2 million federal grant. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced this week that it has selected the City of Columbia for a grant under its Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program.

Intramotev will deploy two TugVolt autonomous railcars on COLT’s 21.4-mile line between Centralia and Columbia, Missouri. Operations will advance in phases under an FRA-approved test program. They begin with remote switching at COLT’s Columbia terminal and build to autonomous freight service across the full mainline and its public crossings.

The project’s goal is to produce a safety record that FRA and the more than 600 U.S. short lines can use as a template for adopting autonomous railcars.

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