The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York, US will begin a pilot programme testing an autonomous railcar inspection system after receiving a $2m grant. 

The Department of Transportation (DoT) funded grant is supporting the pilot that will aim to improve the efficiency of daily rolling stock inspections on the Metro-North Railroad. 

The DoT’s grant is part of the Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionising Transportation (SMART) programme which provided more than $50m to 34 tech focussed projects during its most recent round of funding. 

Catherine Rinaldi, Metro-North Railroad president, said: “Metro-North is always looking for opportunities to innovate and be more efficient in how we maintain our systems and equipment and provide service to our customers. 

“With federal funding from SMART, we can explore new industry advancements to improve our maintenance practices, which will enhance the safety and overall reliability of our service.” 

In addition to manual inspections, the automatic inspection system will support the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) mandated process and allow the MTA to detect and address defects earlier with a “more proactive rolling stock maintenance” system. 

The tech marks the latest upgrade for the Metro-North Railroad, which is also currently undergoing a $590m modernisation project of the Park Avenue viaduct that carries trains on the railroad in and out of New York City’s Grand Central terminal.