Conceptual Design of Shunting Automation Elements Utilising the Digital Automatic Coupler

To fully utilise the potential of the Digital Automatic Coupling, especially as an enabler, systems making use of its enabler function have to be developed. This paper lays out the conceptual design of three such systems, meant to ease the required manual labour of shunting work. It gives a rough overview of necessary shunting tasks, state of the art solutions and research and lays out the conceptualisation and design of new systems. The systems presented here aim to automate the decoupling process, securing the ends of tracks against rolling wagons, and the braking and securing of wagons as well as performing an automated brake test. The overall goal is a highly automated shunting operation using the possibilities of the Digital Automatic Coupling.