新幹線初の自動運転試験へ　ＪＲ東日本、来秋新潟で

　ＪＲ東日本は１０日、新幹線「Ｅ７系」の回送列車を活用した自動運転試験を来年１０～１１月ごろに新潟県で実施すると発表した。同社によると、新幹線の自動運転試験は全国で初めて。将来の導入を見据え、技術の蓄積や課題の洗い出しを進める。
　実施区間は上越新幹線の新潟駅―新潟新幹線車両センターの約５キロ。開発中の自動列車運転装置による遠隔操作での発車や自動加減速、決められた位置での自動停車などを検証する。緊急時に備え、運転士が乗車する。（2020/11/10-20:17）

East Japan Railway Co. , or JR East, said Tuesday that it will conduct autonomous test runs of its E7 series Shinkansen bullet trains in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, around October to November next year.
   This will be the first autonomous test run of a Shinkansen train in Japan, according to the railway operator. It will seek to identify issues and gather expertise so that it can introduce autonomous Shinkansen into service in the future.
   The test without passengers will take place on the roughly 5-kilometer section linking Niigata Station, a terminal of the Joetsu Shinkansen Line, and the Niigata Shinkansen rail yard. JR East will test remote-controlled departures, automatic acceleration and deceleration, as well as automatic stops at designated points, using an autonomous train control system currently under development. Shinkansen drivers will be on board the E7 trains during the test in case of an emergency.
   "We want to push down costs (of Shinkansen operations) while raising stability (in operations)," JR East President Yuji Fukasawa said at a press conference on Tuesday. The company has so far conducted autonomous test runs of trains on its Yamanote Line, a busy loop line in Tokyo, late at night after the end of daily services.
   JR East also said that it will test "local 5G" technology, in which the fifth-generation ultrahigh-speed wireless communications network is used in a limited area. The company hopes to use the technology to send real-time high-resolution images of inside and around autonomously operated trains to control rooms in the future.