China Shenhua’s first intelligent unmanned loading assisted driving system for diesel locomotives successfully completed joint commissioning and trial operation at Xinshuo Railway. This marked a key breakthrough for the Company’s transportation industry in intelligent upgrading of locomotive operations, providing solid technical support for improving the quality and efficiency of the entire coal transportation chain and strengthening the safety production defense line.
The system deeply integrated cutting-edge technologies including the Internet of Things and precise positioning, building an intelligent operation system featuring “minimal human intervention, automatic execution and joint coordination”. With limited driver intervention, it independently completed the full-process operations covering direction switching, starting, traction, braking and precise positioning parking. It realized seamless linkage automatic driving between locomotive coal loading operations and loading stations. The technological empowerment simultaneously improved the efficiency and accuracy of loading operations, significantly reduced the labor costs, and effectively avoided the risks of human operational errors. The level of integrated, safe, efficient and intelligent collaborative management and control at the railway-mine interface achieved leapfrog upgrading.
During the project advancement, the Company set up a special tackling team, carrying out joint research with technology R&D institutions. Over several months, it successively completed core tasks including the deployment of on-board and ground equipment, system software commissioning and parameter calibration. Through simulated loading tests, it implemented targeted optimization for problems covering positioning deviations and signal interference. It continuously improved system stability and reliability through multiple rounds of iteration. During the trial operation, the system completed 1,080 loading trains. with loading accuracy controlled within ±10 cm, failure rate below 2% and stable operation rate exceeded 98%.
The successful trial operation of this unmanned loading system effectively promoted the transformation of the Company’s shunting locomotive operation mode towards “intelligence, high efficiency and safety”. It injected new impetus into the digital upgrading of traditional operation scenarios in the railway locomotive sector.
