Russian Railways Puts Stations on Autopilot
Russian Railways is deploying a system at Chelyabinsk-Glavny station designed to take over two-thirds of routine operations. If the pilot proves successful, another 19 major stations will follow.
Russian Railways (RZD) plans to create 20 digital railway stations where a substantial share of operational processes will be automated and robotized using artificial intelligence. Chelyabinsk-Glavny has been selected as the pilot site, where comprehensive deployment and testing of the Tsifrovaya zheleznodorozhnaya stantsiya (Digital Railway Station, DRS) systems is nearing completion. If the results confirm the reliability and effectiveness of the systems, RZD will roll them out at other key hubs across its network.
DRS is not a single software application but a suite of interconnected systems that creates a dynamic digital model of a station. The systems collect data on the positions of railcars and locomotives, track occupancy and shunting movements, then use that information to manage operations and forecast traffic loads. The project combines computer vision, AI algorithms, automatic route setting, digital twins and robotic systems. RZD estimates that the technology will automate and robotize roughly two-thirds of the operations currently performed by employees.
What makes the project significant is the shift from pilot automation of individual processes to deploying an integrated digital platform across major railway hubs. For Russia, the project could increase infrastructure capacity without physically expanding stations, while advancing domestic industrial software, computer vision, robotics and critical infrastructure control systems.
Scaling Up and Exporting the Technology
The main opportunity is to roll out the systems tested in Chelyabinsk across key marshalling yards on the RZD network. Over time, the technology could move beyond automating individual operations toward far more intelligent traffic management, forecasting track occupancy, automatically identifying bottlenecks, calculating the optimal sequence of shunting movements and managing operations in near real time.
The most natural export market is the railways of countries using the 1,520 mm gauge, where Russian systems can be more readily adapted to existing infrastructure. NIIAS has already discussed digital station infrastructure with Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, while Russian railway automation developers are implementing projects in Kazakhstan and Mongolia.
The Road to Automation
Russia’s DRS project has developed in stages. In 2022, Digital Railway Station software modules began to be deployed at key hubs on the Far Eastern Railway, with the stated goal of increasing capacity and gradually moving toward automatic control. In 2023, RZD began scaling up its computer vision system for monitoring track occupancy at marshalling yards. In 2025, Chelyabinsk-Glavny introduced the first automatic shunting route-setting system: the software calculates optimal routes, takes current and projected track occupancy into account, and automatically sends commands to the system controlling points and signals. In 2026, a robot for automatically uncoupling railcars underwent trial operation at the same station.
Similar technologies are advancing elsewhere in the world. In Germany, DB Cargo has been testing fully automated shunting locomotives since 2021. Large-scale trials of digital automatic coupling for freight cars have been underway in Europe since 2022. The Russian project therefore fits a broader global trend as railways seek to reduce manual work and make marshalling-yard operations more predictable.
Chelyabinsk as a Milestone for the Network
The significance of the Tsifrovaya zheleznodorozhnaya stantsiya (Digital Railway Station) project lies less in its use of AI itself than in the move toward end-to-end digitization of a physical industrial facility. Data from sensors and cameras feed into a unified digital model, algorithms plan operations, automated systems control infrastructure, and robots perform some physical tasks. That represents a fundamentally different level of technology integration at a critical infrastructure facility.
The key milestone will be the successful completion of comprehensive testing at Chelyabinsk-Glavny. If the system demonstrates reliability, safety and economic benefits at the same time, the project can move into large-scale deployment. RZD’s announcement of plans for 20 stations already indicates that the company views DRS as a network-wide technology rather than a one-off experiment.
