Introducing the concept of grades of automation for shunting operations

In Europe political decisions have been made to shift freight traffic from roads to railways, triggering substantial efforts to digitize and automate processes in the rail freight domain. As currently, only automation taxonomies for driving in rail networks exist, this paper provides a taxonomy for operations in so-called marshaling yards. Marshaling yards are critical nodes in the rail freight network, where the wagons of arriving trains are separated and are distributed to outgoing trains. Using the Design Science Research Cycles of Hevner to ensure a transparent procedure, this work develops Grades of Automation for Shunting Operations. The key outcome is a systematic classification together with a pictorial representation of these Grades of Automation, providing an overview of basic Shunting Operations and their functional realizations. This taxonomy facilitates a comparison of automation levels across different marshaling yards, aiding rail freight undertakings in planning efficient transport routes within the rail freight network.