MOSCOW, April 25 Russian Railways General Director Oleg Belozerov shared his experience of riding an unmanned Lastochka a few years ago: it was scary, but we will get used to this technology.
On Tuesday, Belozerov performed at the educational marathon «Knowledge. First». Questions about the unmanned «Swallow» were asked by one of the participants. After the head of Russian Railways replied that such trains would appear on the MCC in 2024, one of the presenters said: «It would be interesting to ride such a train.»
«I can say that this is very scary. Since you always need to test yourself … two years ago, when we launched the tests, we passed a certain level, What did they do? The driver on purpose… here we are, big leaders… got up from his seat, stood back and looks with us where we will go,» the head of Russian Railways began to tell his impressions of that trip.
Russian Railways has been working on a project of unmanned Lastochkas for several years. At the end of August 2019, the company demonstrated for the first time on the test ring in Shcherbinka the unmanned Lastochka, which automatically braked in front of the dummy on the tracks. A correspondent then observed the experiment from the platform. On board the Lastochka, in addition to Belozerov, there was also Maxim Akimov, who held the post of Deputy Prime Minister at that time.
«The train starts to move, and we understand that there is no driver, and picks up speed sharply. Moreover, they also checked the emergency stop systems. We see that there is a mock-up on the tracks and there is also a crossing. You are rushing at maximum speed 60 kilometers (per hour — ed.), and then the train starts to slow down by itself, this, of course, is not such an impression for the faint of heart. But I think that we will get used to this, «said the head of Russian Railways.