CBTC
Communications-based train control — the signalling that lets metro trains run closer together, and the prerequisite for every driverless claim in this atlas.
How this list is decided. Membership is not a field an editor set: it is every published entry whose own text names CBTC, matched at build time, with the sentence printed under each row so you can judge the match yourself. 34 entries in 34 cities. For what the term means rather than who uses it, see CBTC (communications-based train control) in the glossary.
✔ Every published entry is checked against the public sources it cites before publication.
Where it appears in the atlas
CBTC with ATO is a capability, not a staffing decision.
Built by CRRC Tangshan with 19 four-car trainsets under CBTC control, the ~$1.8bn project stalled in 2019 when its Chinese contractor went bankrupt and became a national corruption symbol before restarting in 2023.
The 14.4 km Yanfang line opened on 30 December 2017 in Beijing's southwestern Fangshan district — state media and the operator describe it as China's first fully automated metro built entirely from domestic subsystems, its automatic train control coming from Beijing's Traffic Control Technology rather than an import…
Siemens supplied CBTC rated GoA 4, the highest grade of automation, but service opened in semi-automatic mode with a driver in the cab — three trainsets out of fifteen, on a 25-minute headway.
The fleet is contracted for unattended GoA4 running over CBTC, and energised automatic test runs began on the viaduct in May 2026 — with a technician in the cab, which the mayor says applies to testing only.
Argentina handed its 1913 metro to the city in 2012, and the city agency SBASE has since put Siemens Trainguard MT CBTC on three of six lines — H in 2016, C in 2020, D in 2024.
Used only for the technical specification: 23.9 km, 21 stations, standard gauge, 750 V DC third rail, Thales SelTrac CBTC moving-block signalling and fully automated driverless operation.
Trade press relaying Alstom's announcement — this is the origin of the automation claim used in the snippet: 'CBTC GoA4 signaling, which means fully automated operation without a driver on board, according to Alstom's announcement.' Also: 16 of 22 stations at launch, vehicles built at Alstom's Derby plant, up to 45,…
Opened in December 2020, Line 9 is Chengdu's first fully automated metro (GoA4, unattended): a 22km orbital line whose 8-car trains run without a driver on Alstom's Urbalis CBTC signalling, watched by thousands of onboard obstacle- and derailment-detection sensors.
Chennai Metro Rail Limited is commissioning Grade-of-Automation-4 unattended train operation on Phase II, under a ₹1,620-crore Hitachi Rail communications-based train control (CBTC) signalling contract awarded in 2023, designed to allow 90-second headways, automatic depot train movement and platform-screen-door cont…
Frankfurt is replacing its light-rail signalling with digital CBTC train control across all nine Stadtbahn lines, targeting full rollout by 2033.
Verbatim: 'Alstom has officially delivered Line 3 of Guadalajara urban transportation network, a new line expected to carry around 230,000 passengers daily', 'The line covers nearly 21 kilometres, covering 18 stations through the cities Zapopan, Guadalajara and Tlaquepaque', 'It will be operated by the local operato…
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Academic paper on urban-rail full-automation (FAO) systems confirming the Zhujiang New Town APM adopted Bombardier's Cityflo 650 CBTC at GoA4 in November 2010.
Both lines run automated train control — Alstom's Urbalis 400 CBTC on the Nhon line, a system VnExpress described as 'level 2.5' automation on Cat Linh–Ha Dong — yet a driver sits in every cab: the operator's director has explained that trains run automatically in normal weather and switch to manual driving when rai…
Ho Chi Minh City's first metro line opened on 22 December 2024: 19.7 km and 14 stations from Bến Thành to Suối Tiên, delivered by Hitachi as a turnkey package including CBTC signalling and 17 three-car trains.
Hyderabad Metro, which opened its first stretch in November 2017, runs on Communication-Based Train Control (CBTC) — among the first elevated metro systems in India built on this technology rather than older fixed-block signalling.
Thales SelTrac CBTC signaling since 2009; ridership figures.
The M5 Üsküdar–Çekmeköy line opened on 15 December 2017 as Turkey's first fully driverless (GoA4, unattended) metro, run by Metro İstanbul under the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, using CBTC signalling and platform screen doors.
CBTC signalling drives the trains automatically, but a driver stays in the cab — GoA2, not driverless.
Hitachi Rail STS India built the CBTC system to Grade of Automation 2 for KMRC — trains run under continuous automatic protection and operation, but a driver stays aboard to close doors and start the train, not the fully "driverless" service some 2026 coverage implies.
The MRT Kajang line opened its first phase in December 2016 and its full 51 km in July 2017, running driverless on Bombardier's CITYFLO 650 CBTC.
Trade press describes the CASCO-supplied CBTC signalling as configured for Grade of Automation 2 — a driver stays in the cab — even though 'driverless' descriptions of the line still circulate.
Melbourne's 9km twin-tunnel Metro Tunnel, opened 30 November 2025, runs on Alstom's Urbalis Flo CBTC — Australia's first brownfield moving-block signalling install.
Supplier press release naming the replacement control system: 'Alstom has been selected by the Miami-Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works to provide its state-of-the-art Cityflo 650 Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) solution for the Miami-Dade Metromover system.' Alstom's site returned H…
Alstom supplied 31 eight-car trains with regenerative braking and a CBTC package covering unattended train operation, platform screen doors and electrical and mechanical SCADA.
Trade press reporting Alstom's own announcement: CBTC and 312 India-built cars for the Phase IV extensions, which entered revenue service in 2026 equipped for GoA4.
New York has been replacing its 1930s fixed-block subway signals with communications-based train control since the Canarsie (L) line, in full CBTC operation by 2009; the Flushing (7) followed in November 2018, and parts of Queens Boulevard and Culver since.
Maha Metro equipped Pune Metro's Purple (Line 1) and Aqua (Line 2) lines with Alstom's Urbalis 400 communication-based train control (CBTC) system, contracted in 2019 to control 31 trains across a 32km network.
US$27M, 48 months, work from March 2026; obsolescence management and upgrades; describes CITYFLO 350 with no CBTC label.
It opened in phases from 1 December 2024 to 5 January 2025: six CBTC-signalled GoA4 lines covering 176 km with 85 stations, run without onboard staff from central control rooms.
Phase 1 installs CBTC 'at street level along the Embarcadero and Third Street corridors' from 2026; Phase 2 installs and activates it 'in the subway alongside the existing Automatic Train Control System' in 2027 or 2028; N Judah around 2028, T Third/K Ingleside/M Ocean View 2029, J Church/L Taraval 2030; 'complete i…
Line 1 was retrofitted with Alstom's Urbalis CBTC under a 2010 contract meant to cut the headway from 105 to 80 seconds, a capacity upgrade rather than a step towards running without staff.
Operator states Line 5 trains are automatic because of CBTC but 'pode receber um upgrade' to driverless operation, which would require working platform doors.
The TTC replaced 1950s fixed-block signalling on Line 1 Yonge-University with Alstom moving-block CBTC, finishing in September 2022 — seven years past the original 2009 contract's August 2015 target, and already three years late and C$98M over budget at a 2019 checkpoint.
Others in this group
The whole layer
Every standard, protocol and licence the atlas names, with the open-data licence ladder in one table: Standards & licences.