Automated metros experience surge in global growth

Additional findings of the UITP study revealed:

• Asia is the world’s leading automation region with 42 percent of km of infrastructure, followed by Europe (34 percent) and North America (13 percent), which was one of the pioneering regions in automation. In the last decade, Latin America and the Middle East have developed automated lines with the latter showing strong growth.
• Half of the world’s fully automated metro infrastructure is to be found in four countries: France, South Korea, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. At the city level, the ranking is led by three non-European cities: Singapore (82km), Dubai (80km) and Vancouver (68km).
• In the 40 years since the first automated lines, the growth rate has doubled each decade and is set to quadruple in the coming decade: by 2025, there will be an estimated 2,200km of automated metro infrastructure in operation.
• In 2025, Asia, Europe and the Middle East will represent 32 percent, 31 percent and 24 percent respectively of total automated infrastructure. China announced the opening of its first fully automated line for the end of 2017 – a significant move that could mean even higher growth if China embraces automation for its many growing systems.