MOST OBSERVERS OF THE RAILWAY SCENE agree that relief of the railroads from their present economic plight could only be partially achieved by adoption of a more equitable public policy between competing forms of transport. Even under the most favorable treatment, the railroads must continue to strive for technological progress and increased efficiency if they expect to keep pace with competing forms of transport and general industrial progress. More intensive application of automatic systems and devices already of proven ability in railroad operation will do much toward solving the railroad problem. However, it is not too early to give serious thought to a wider concept of operation-the completely automatic railroad. Keeping this concept continuously before us provides a guide for the direction of development programs. Systems already in use and those yet to be perfected in the interim stages of progress toward the automatic railroad could make important contributions to more efficient and economical use of railroad plants. C.T.C., mechanization of classification yards, and other signal systems still have a vast, unrealized potential. The idea of the fully automatic railroad has reached the stage of acceptance by many, and the subject is no longer considered a fantastic creation of a few mildly confused visionaries. Preliminary steps toward achievement have been taken on several fronts. We all know the tremendous economic problems faced by the railroad industry today and we are also aware of what the industry must do to continue its existence. 1. Operating costs must be lowered. 2. The industry must continue to improve and expand services offered its customers. 3. It must sell its product (low-cost transportation) more effectively in an increasingly competitive market. Thinking and acting toward the achievement of the automatic railroad, which promises tremendous potential returns, can contribute a great deal toward achieving these basic economic objectives. This report will be largely devoted to an explanation of the relationship of the present day railway signaling and communication art as a part of a completely automatic railway system. Actually, the concept of an automatic train is not new. We have been working toward it for many years. Practically all of us are familiar with a very good example of one type of automatic railroad system. A great many persons have worked on this very famous line since it's one of the biggest railway systems in the world. In fact, nearly every family in the United States has invested money in its capital equipment at one time or another. I'm referring to model railroads, which in many cases represent other substantial outlays of hobby capital and very elaborate control systems. The example of the model railroad is not a completely accurate one. Most model railroads operate by remote control and require the human mind to make many of the simple routine decisions incidental to operation of the trains. In a completely automatic full-scale railway system, the train itself would be the absolute slave of a control system needing only monitoring for the occasional situation when human judgment is necessary. As a prerequisite to clear thinking on the subject of automatic railroads, we need to look at the background of accomplishments which can be incorporated into the system. Using these as a base, we can start to build on them. However, because the development of electronic and automatic equipment is progressing so rapidly, we can use the past only as a guide to what we have to do in the future. It is obvious that any automatic system must be based on application of the fail-safe principles developed in American Railway signaling, particularly those of automatic train and speed control systems, which will function independently of Stop-Go controls governing locomotive propulsion energy.