Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - One year after the start of a project for more punctuality of the Stuttgart S-Bahn thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), Deutsche Bahn has drawn a positive balance. The average delay time was reduced by up to three minutes, explained DB Technical Director Daniela Gerd tom Markotten on Monday. The AI supports the dispatchers in Stuttgart in coordinating the trains on the railway lines. The technology is also already being used in Munich and Frankfurt.
The software continuously recommends the order in which trains run or whether they should be canceled in order to minimize delays. According to Deutsche Bahn, around 60 percent of the suggestions made by artificial intelligence are then actually used by the employees in dispatch.
"The use of AI brings more capacity to the rails without track expansion," said Gerd tom Markotten. As a result, 17 more trains per day could run on the main route in Stuttgart. Nevertheless, the expansion of the infrastructure and the modernization of the vehicle fleet remained important.
