The Case for Driverless Trains, By the Numbers

Automatic train control returned to the Red Line on Washington, D.C.'s Metrorail system today, following years of infrastructure upgrades that occurred in the wake of a deadly 2009 crash. For now, the change will be limited to eight-car rush-hour trains, which will once again start and stop via computer control. Human drivers will remain on board to open and close doors, and other parts of the system won't be automated for a while to come, but the news was a win for an agency that sorely needed one.

CityLab has made the case for driverless trains before, but some new evidence from an impressive survey of 23 rail-based transit systems around the world that operate (or have plans to operate) highly automated lines gives us several new facts and figures to bolster that position. The work comes courtesy of a group of researchers at the Railway and Transport Strategy Centre of Imperial College London, who presented it at a conference earlier this year. Let's dive in.